Turning Points
by Silveus
Summary: In the future, Nanoha and Company lead the TSAB as they track down the most Powerful Lost Logia in existence, but how did things end up this way, story examines the turning points they lead to the largest Inter-dimensional conflict ever.
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

Notes

Ok so this here is only my second attempt at writing anything, and my first attempt at writing fan-fiction, well my first attempt that got past the thinking of ideas stage, so, be nice.

And a side note, if you spot any spelling or grammar errors, or if anything seems confusing or to not flow right, please tell me, preferably by message or email. And I will try to respond to any reviews or messages I get.

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha universe.

Chapter 1, Prologue.

September 15th 2045

As Fleet Admiral Thomas Ericson pulled himself off of the bridge deck plating and back into his command chair, a trickled of blood ran down from his scalp and dripped into his mouth. The taste of his own blood jolted him back to awareness and out of his concussion induced stupor. He was about to call for a medic but a glance around his command deck told him his bridge crew needed help sooner than he did. The navigation section was in flames, he could see Lieutenant Christopher's body draped over one of the consoles while the flames consumed the remains of one of the Plertin members of the crew, probably Ensign Gretir, or Specialist Ilio.

Admiral Ericson's attention was caught by a Female Solon's approach, her suit was torn in several places and he could see the orange glow that emanated from her skin through the holes in her radiation suit, which meant he was currently absorbing lethal amounts of radiation. The Solon, who he recognized as Vice Captain Leridia came over and attempted to say something to him, but he couldn't make out what she was saying over that ringing sound that he had heard since he pulled himself of the ground.

The vice captain shook her head and then took a medical emergency pack from her belt, withdrew a nerve inhibitor spray, and injected into the admirals neck, within seconds the mix of painkillers and regenerative chemicals had started to do their work, numbing the admirals head, and oddly enough his right arm. Mercifully the ringing stopped and the admiral spared his arm a glance, only to see that it was clearly broken. His attention was again brought back to the Solon, since he could now hear what she was saying, although he was having a hard time with her accent.

"Aadmiraal, aare you aalright?"

With the pain killers working and the regenerative chemicals in his system he was hopefully not fatally injured, so he answered with an affirmative.

"Good, The Caaptiaan was killed in the laast baarrage, The naavaagaation section was destroyed, we aare rerouting it to the communicaations section, since we lost the comm. aarraay. We haave multiple hull breaaches, the staarboard missile laaucnhers aare offline….."

Admiral Ericson let the Vice Captain continue while he looked out of the main view screen, and the view was, disheartening. One of his escort ships, The ASN Stalking Spider, a Ruby Class battle cruiser was breaking apart under a barrage of energy and missile weapons being fired from 4 cruiser class enemy ships. His entire fleet formation was falling apart, the enemy fleet was slicing through his lines and were gunning right for his command ships, or to be exact, this ship.

"Aadmiraal aare you listening to me? We need to order a retreaat."

A quick glanced at the tactical battle map on his personal consoled verified what he had thought, the enemy fleet had completely surrounded his forces, if he ordered a retreat now he would be lucky if even one ship made it through. In fact, the odds are, that no matter what happens at this point, his entire fleet would be destroyed in about 30 to 90 seconds. At best he could draw his defeat out, and try to destroy as many enemy ships as possible.

"Vice Captain, which ship is the one that just shot at us?"

His request clearly caught the Solon Vice Captain off-guard, she stammered for a second before responding, "Thaat Cruiser aat 8.6 vector 13.1, distaance 250."

The Cruiser in question was a newer model, from what he could see it was a state of the art warship. This was probably its first battle. Admiral Ericson almost pitied it for a minute, such a beautiful and young ship, and he was about to destroy it, but then he remembered that that cruiser had effectively killed his own ship. He steeled his resolve and addressed the entire bridge crew,

"Tactical, Lock all weapons on that cruiser at 8.6 vector 13.1, the one that just shot us. If you can't get a lock due to their scrambling fields, then target manually, at this range we can't miss. Set the Barrier Lancer Missiles to fire 1 second after the main volley. No one, No one has ever gotten away unscathed after shooting at the ASN God Hammer."

A chorus of "Aye, Sirs!" were yelled while the remaining bridge crew went about preparing for the God Hammer's final attack.

"Fleet Aadmiraal, aare you sure thaat we should not aattempt to flee?"

"We would never make it, This was not a battle that we could ever win, this wasn't even a battle we could survive. We are only here to inflict as much damage upon their fleet as possible, We sacrifice ourselves to hurt them enough that they halt their advance . Our 420 ships versus their 780, and what have we done so far?"

"Aadmiraal, so faar we haave lost more than 200 ships, exact numbers aare not possible due to the interference from their scraambler fields. We haave confirmed the destruction of 21 of their ships, mostly the smaaller frigaates aand a few destroyers. The laargest ship we haave confirmed destroyed waas a short raange baattle cruiser."

"So not even one battle ship or dreadnought?"

"Aas I said, the scraambler field maakes it haard to aascertaain exaactly whaat's going on."

"I bet those numbers are accurate, although we probably lost more than those 200 ships so far. What about our Ace and Striker forces?"

"Likely Aannihilaated, aalong with our strike craaft. The enemies haave not used their Strike craaft, or their Striker forces, they are currently circling behind our fleet in an effort to cut off our escaape. However their Aace forces haave been used to greaat effect against us, no estimaates on their losses. "

"Hmm… Try to get a message through to any surviving ships, tell them to concentrate fire on the smaller ships, do whatever they can to destroy as much as possible, ram them, or even self destruct, do anything."

"Yes, Aadmiraal, I will see whaat I can do, however our comm. Aarraay is down, I am not sure-"

"ATTENTION ALL HANDS, BRACE FOR IMPACT, ENEMY TORPEDO VOLLEY INBOUND FROM THE STARBOARD SIDE,"

"Bring point defense online! Fire decoy pods! Evaasive Maaneuvers!"

"TORPEDOES NUMBER AT 52"

"Shit"

"IMPACT IN 3"

"Get the ECM up! Now!"

"2"

"Hold on!"

"1"

"Everyone brace for-"

"0"

As 52 Clarity heavy torpedoes impacted the ruined starboard missile launchers and then detonated into brilliant white explosions, they set off a chain reaction in the stored missiles in the launchers. Milliseconds after the white flash faded a second, much larger neon green burst erupted out of the side of the ASN God Hammer. The explosion tore the exterior starboard heavy beam cannon battery from the ship and sent it flying into the ASN Blood Hawk, a Topaz Class long range destroyer. The Battery lodged itself into the center of the ASN Blood Hawk, likely crushing its main energy core. And when the Energy stored in the generators and capacitors in the Heavy cannons overloaded and exploded, the ASN Blood Hawk disappeared in a massive explosion.

Ten seconds later, as the remains of the ASN Blood Hawk were raining across the ruined armor of the ASN God Hammer, Fleet Admiral Thomas Ericson, for the second time in 2 minutes, pulled himself off of the deck plating and back into his command chair. However this time the process took longer, and this time the admiral was aware of the reasons why. The nerve inhibitors automatically targets injured parts of the body, numb them, and begins repairs. The fact that half of the admiral's body was numb, and that the other half hurt meant that the inhibitor targeted the high priority injuries and then ran out of chemicals before it could work on the rest. And as he coughed up blood and labored to breath, Fleet Admiral Thomas Ericson knew he was dying.

As he sat in his command chair he surveyed his bridge, some of his crew were pulling themselves up and were trying to finish their tasks, but most stayed down. His eyes fell upon the form of Vice Captain Leridia. Her Radiation suit was now completely torn open and her bright orange blood was oozing out as she lie on the floor. With every breath she took, more of the glowing orange fluid bubbled out and the glow from her body dimmed. With shaking hands she reached into her jacket and withdrew a small picture. She managed a small smile before her hand went limp and she dropped the picture, she coughed lightly once, and then in the orange haze of her evaporating blood, she stopped moving.

The Admiral tore his eyes away before he could see what was in the picture. In a weak scruffy voice he addressed his crew,

"It was an honor serving with all of you. You are all the finest crew that the Allied States Navy has ever seen. Take these last few seconds to make peace with yourselves. "

And to the ship's DAI he said, "Reroute targeting and fire control to my console"

"CONFIRMED, ALL TARGETING AND FIRE CONTROL COMMANDS HAS BEEN REROUTED TO THE COMMAND CHAIR"

"Target all remaining weapons onto the coordinates that contain that cruiser."

"ADMIRAL, WITHOUT A PROPER TARGET LOCK, OR ANY MANUAL AIMING, I ESTIMATE THAT THE SALVO WILL ONLY HAVE A 62% ACCURACY RATING."

"That's more than enough, do it."

"YES SIR, WEAPONS ARE ARMED AND READY TO FIRE"

"Prepare to fire all weapons, place Barrier Lancer missiles on a one second delay…FIRE!"

Even with its entire starboard missile launcher array in ruins, and with the damage to the rest of the ship, the ASN God Hammer still belched forth 204 light Sprinter missiles, 26 Decoy missile pods, 88 Shield Slicer heavy missiles, and 40 Endgame torpedoes. In addition to the missiles, the 4 Heavy beam cannons on the Port battery let loose, firing 4 massive deep violet beams, that along with the 2 heavy cannons mounted on the fore battery and all of the minor batteries all over the ship, lit up the entire sector of space. One second later 56 Barrier lancer heavy missiles were added to the mix. 414 propellant trails along with their dimensional wakes mixed with over 1000 blue bolts of energy and swirled around the 6 violet heavy beams, it was actually quite a breathtaking sight to see as the wall of destruction raced towards the doomed cruiser.

Admiral Ericson ignored the spectacle, he was more concerned about how much of it would miss its target. Just moments after the Barrier Lancers had left the launchers the cruiser brought its midrange directional shield system online, a technology previously thought impractical due to its massive energy and computing requirements. The admiral watched as a relatively small yellow shield complete with its Mid-Childan double square within a circle overlapped by no less than 4 Belkan triangle arrays appeared directly in the path of one of the energy beams at a 80 degree angle.

Shields work by blocking and redirecting the energy that hits them, they absorb it, tame it, and then send it back the way it came. Directional shields do the same thing, except they send it off at an angle, in effect deflecting it. For a Directional shield of that size to be used in a battle like this requires massive amounts of computing power, power that a ship of that size, or any size, should not have.

But more troubling than the ability to quickly make a directional shield, is the ability to make them at range. Usually shields are only functional within a few meters of its point of origin, however this cruiser made a directional shield almost 2 kilometers in front of itself and was able to deflect a class S+ energy beam. The ASN God Hammer would have to reroute all power into the shield arrays to do that, and it would likely overload the arrays.

For this cruiser, a ship less than half the size of his own ship to do this was unthinkable. But while one of his energy beams was being deflected a second directional shield appeared and intercepted another beam, in the 3 seconds it should have taken for his beams to reach the enemy ship, the small round shields intercepted and deflected 4 of his 6 beams harmlessly away from the cruiser and into his own escort ships. And the remaining 2 were not on collision courses; they missed by a wide margin. The cruiser had completely negated a point blank attack from some of the most powerful naval weapons in the Allied States Navy, and managed to damage his own fleet in the process.

As the admiral cursed silently to himself he was also made aware of another disheartening fact, that while it was creating the directional barriers, it was also firing its point defense weapons. The cruisers own bolts of brown energy mixed with his own blue bolts. As the space between to 2 ships exploded into action the admiral saw that in addition to standard point defense, the enemy ship also had advanced decoy pods and ECM. He watched as his missiles raced after glowing decoy pods falling away from the ship, or their guidance systems were hacked and re-targeted against the ruined hull of the ASN Stalking Spider. But the admiral was still confident, even with the amount of missiles being taken out, the remaining ones would still deal massive damage to the ship, and the Barrier Lancers, missiles designed to bypass Barriers, were virtually untouched by the Point Defense, that cruiser would be destroyed.

Then, as the missile volley closed in on the enemy warship, it released a brilliant flashing ball of what appeared to be pure electricity. The blue and yellow ball appeared to have formed right off of the side of the ship and then was launched towards the missiles. As it made its approach, it broke down into bolts of lightning, arched out, and sliced into the missiles, then jumped from one missile into others. For one split second a web of electricity connected over 100 missiles of various forms, and then all at once, the web exploded.

Admiral Ericson was speechless, not even the directional shields had stunned him as much as that had. This experimental weapon, it had to be, was nothing he had ever seen before. This weapon would be devastating against strike craft and any mages that would get caught in the blast radius. The power levels to form pure electricity in space like that must have been astronomical.

As his shock wore off he was pleased to see that although that weapon had destroyed a large chunk of his missiles, about 1/3 of them were still on-course, and would impact the enemy vessel in about 3 seconds.

And in exactly 3 seconds 97 missiles of various class slammed into the defensive barriers of the enemy cruiser, followed a second later by 49 Barrier Lancer heavy missiles. As the first wave of missiles exploded the enemy ship was obscured by the massive explosions all over its fore and starboard sides. Large black dimensional vibrations from the Endgame Torpedoes mixed with the greenish glow from the sprinter missiles while blue-green flashes from the Shield Slicers were visible through the smoke and debris. Then the Barrier Lancers cut through the explosions and slammed into the ships barrier before they began drilling through. Once they made an opening they opened up and released their true ordinance, a smaller, high yield Spring Rocket.

As the cloud dispersed and the explosions faded, Admiral Ericson was once again in awe of the abilities of this ship. Its barriers were clearly worst for wear, they flickered on and off and were visibly thinner than they were before, but they were clearly still there. Underneath the few holes that were made in the barriers, the ships armor was scorched and broken, but still holding. There were no hull breaches, no damage to critical components, in fact there was no real damage at all. He was pretty sure his own ship would have taken catastrophic damage from that attack, and the ASN God Hammer is roughly twice its size.

As Admiral Ericson marveled at the near indestructible warship, the ship in question maneuvered to face the God Hammer. After the ship lined up, it began charging its weapons in an effort to finish the God Hammer. As the energy gathered in the weapons, the admiral could see the burgundy glow as it prepared to fire, he counted 16 guns, likely heavy cannons, 6 on each arm, and 4 in the central command unit.

"What's the name of that ship?"

"TARGET IS A XV CLASS CRUISER NAMED, THE _CLAUDIA_."

"_Claudia_, huh? Sounds kind of weak to be a warship, but I guess that can be deceiving."

At that point the Claudia fired its heavy cannons, the deep burgundy beams sliced through the space between the two ships, slammed into the ASN God Hammer, and then released its dimensional energy into the hull of the god Hammer. Instead of a massive explosion like one would expect, the energy from these weapons causes the molecular bonds that form between atoms to break apart, in effect, every part of the ASN God Hammer that was hit with this energy, reverted to hydrogen gas. With the uncontrolled fires inside of the ship the hydrogen gas ignited. Where the ASN God Hammer once stood, a rapidly expanding cloud of fire had taken its place.

As his ship disintegrated and burnt around him, Admiral Ericson realized he was moments from death. Instead of having his life flash before his eyes, he was overcome with sorrow and guilt. The God Hammer had been the flag ship of the Allied States Navy for over 450 years. She had been retrofitted and upgraded more times than he could count, she had been damage and repaired, fallen into enemy hands and then recaptured, she was even sold once and then bought back at 5 times the price. She had served on the front lines throughout four major inter-dimensional conflicts, she had proved instrumental during the Ares incident, had helped evacuate refuges from the Norse cluster when their sun went nova. This ship had seen so much, done so much, received so much fame and honor. And under his watch it was going to be destroyed, vaporized. There would be nothing left of her. She would be killed by this ship, the Claudia, a ship half its size, a ship a fraction of its age, with none of its history or dignity.

As Fleet Admiral Thomas Ericson continued his train of thought, the disintegration effect reached the bridge. Admiral Ericson and the rest of his crew were quickly engulfed in a sea of flames as the ASN God Hammer, after 467 years of active services disappeared in a ball of fire.

Five dimensional miles away, on a large manufacturing star base orbiting Taleron Prime, a small gas giant, 3 men, 1 woman, and 1 Shahken inhabiting a male body stood around a tactical battle map. As the glowing symbol that represented the ASN God Hammer winked out of existence, the 5 beings, all wearing the insignia of Fleet admiral, stopped what they were doing and sat down. As the remaining 33 symbols that represented the remainder of the fleet winked out one after another the room became silent. The 5 fleet admirals and all of their attendants stood motionless and silent.

Finally, one of the males spoke up,

"Do you, do you think there were any survivors?"

No one responded to him, and after a few seconds he answered himself.

"No, I guess not."

Some of the attendants began continuing their previous tasks. They brought reports and updates to the fleet admirals. After viewing a report the female addressed her colleague.

"We need to evacuate. Worst case scenario, their faster ships could be here within 2 hours, or their entire fleet could make orbit in 6."

"Agreed. We must leave this area. Fleet Admiral Ericson took all of the ships to stop them, seeing as he failed, we will not be able to mount a defense at this location, we need to fall back to Oridian, with its fortifications we should be able to regroup."

After it finished speaking Fleet Admiral Weurkin, a Shahken, a mass of parasites that can control bodies with a hive mind, stood up and began to leave.

As fleet admiral Weurkin started to leave, Fleet admiral Sonya Lisanto began packing up her belongings, however they both halted when the first man to speak, Fleet Admiral Vincent Cool cleared his throat and began to speak again.

"Maybe we should, you know, offer to surrender?"

Fleet Admiral Hiroshi Siato, a human of Asian descent, who suffered severe burns over his entire body responded in his mechanical voice.

"Since hostilities broke out 3 months ago, we have had zero diplomatic contact, they refuse our envoys, they do not ask for terms or give quarter, there is nothing to indicate that they would accept our surrender. Furthermore we don't even know how to-"

Admiral Siato was cut off by the 5th person slamming his fist into the table. Fleet Admiral Hans Gregorvich was a large burly man and as his hand hit the table a loud thud echoed throughout the room.

"Cool, I always knew you were a coward, but not this much of one."

As he stood to his full height of 6'1 he dominated the small room.

"The Allied States has existed for over 700 years and we have never surrendered to anyone. No matter how bad the situation has gotten, the Allied States has never fallen. NEVER! To surrender now would be the greatest insult to every generation of Allied State citizens and military. We will Regroup and hold them off until our allies can mobilize their forces and come to our aid. As long as one out of the 5 of us still lives, we can still win, Do you hear me? There will be no more talk of surrender, we will stand firm, and we will not bow to the unchecked aggression of the TSAB! Understood?"

As the other fleet admirals nodded their agreement, they all began making their way to the few remaining vessels that would allow them to escape to Oridian to regroup. They walked in silence, not once mentioning the 330,000 refuges that they would be abandoning on this space station.

Ten minutes later, as the people left behind on the station realized their situation, the Fleet Admirals, the heads of the Allied States Navy, debarked on the few remaining military vessels. The 6 ships began the 20 minute journey to exit the planets gravity well so that they could enter the Dimensional Sea and make their escape to the naval base at Oridian. The 6 ships, 5 frigates and 1 destroyer, were then joined by 2 more ships, both frigates, operating under the most powerful stealth fields available. The ships bore the call names Io and Dre, and under their names were the words, "146th Striker Company, Black Shadows"

The 2 ships took flanking positions around the convoy. After they got into position the mechanical hatches opened and revealed their hangers to the cold void of space. And in each hanger, both on the Io and the Dre, 60 men and women of various species stood at the ready. They were dressed in suits of darkest black, not a single spot of any other color was on them, against the unlit hanger bays they were nearly invisible. Behind them a single red light came on. A second passed, the light turned yellow, another second and the light turned green. then all at once, 120 members of the 146th Striker company launched themselves out of the hangers and towards the convoy carrying the leaders of the Allied States Military. As they approached the ships that contained the 5 fleet admirals, against the blackness of space, they truly were invisible.

And minutes later, space was alight with bright rainbow flashes that could only be magic based reactor cores detonating.

Six of them.

Chapter Glossary

Plertin-

Alien Race notable for having 4 long tentacle arms that reach to their feet. Each arm ends with 2 fingers and a thumb.

Plertins make decent mages as almost all of them are ranked at C Class. However there is almost no variations in that, they almost never go higher or lower.

Other than that they are similar to humans. Their skin tones range in the dark brown to gray, and are hairless.

Solon-

Alien Race, similar to humans in almost all ways besides one, their core temperature reaches over 400 degrees and their blood is highly radioactive. The heat and radioactivity causes their bodies to glow, usually an orange but sometimes a yellow or dark red.

Solons have to wear special radiation suits so that they don't kill other creatures near them, and also so that their heat doesn't burn or ignite things near them.

A solons skin is semi transparent, but under the glow you can't see anything, only after death can you tell what they look like.

Allied States Navy-

Also called the ASN. The main military body of the Allied states, their ground forces are called the ASM, or Allied States Marines, and are considered to be a sub section of the navy.

The ASN is extremely regimented and well ordered, corruption is minor and they boast a robust military industry. Their ships are up to inter-dimensional technological standards.

The ASN names their ship classes after precious gems, Topaz, Ruby, Emerald, ect

Ship Sizes-

Strike craft- 1-2 man fighter and bomber craft.

Corvette- Smaller ship with a crew of 20-40, lightly armed and armored. Used for scouting, police uses, and light transport duty. Also the size of most civilian owned freighters

Frigate- Small Combat Ship with a crew of around 100. Smallest ship that is usually used in battles.

Destroyer- Main line midsized Warship with a crew of around 250, usually makes up around 40-70% of a fleet.

Cruiser- Mid Sized ship with a crew of around 400, roughly the same basics as a destroyer but uses the extra space to specialize in various fields, anti strike craft, command, ect

Battle Cruiser- Large Ship with a crew around 600. Has the same amount of weapons as a battleship but much less defenses, compensates with much greater speed

Battle Ship- Large Ship with a crew of around 850, Basis of space based warfare. Good Armor, good Weapons, Decent speed

Dreadnought- Massive ship with a crew of around 1200. Many Heavy Weapons, great Defense, and poor speed.

XXXXXX

Excluding strike craft and XXXXXX class vessels, ships are usually about 50% larger than a ship of a smaller class. So a frigate is 50% larger than a Corvette. Also a ship two classes larger is usually about twice as large, so 2 destroyers have the same mass as one battle cruiser.

Note, the ASN God Hammer is a battleship.

Coordinates-

Location of a target based of the ship its being viewed from. 2 ships side by side would have slightly different readings for the same object because they're not seeing it from the same spot.

Knowing how they work isn't important. There is a science behind it but it makes no difference.

Barrier Lancer Missiles-

Missiles Designed by the Irlian Empire and sold to almost all inter-dimensional militaries. Long Range heavy missiles that are tipped with a drill designed to drill through barriers, or to a certain degree, armor. After the drill pierces the barrier it pops off of the missile and from the opening a short range high yield spring missile fire out. In effect the main missile breaks the barrier and then shots a second missile through the opening.

Strikers-

Mage special forces. They are much more powerful than standard combat mages, have their own Devices and operate in squads with other strikers. A striker is not as powerful as an Ace. Even though some Strikers might be ranked higher than some Aces, an Ace focus on combat while a Striker focuses on other things such as, recon, communications, stealth, espionage, interrogation, deception, tracking, diplomacy, sabotage, ect.

About 1 in every 5000 people ever becomes a Striker, but due to their nature strikers, at least ones that focus in the black ops, are usually hidden from the public.

Strikers are organized into companies and are usually deployed in squads or even platoons.

Aces-

Elite combat Mages.

Aces are usually ranked around A class, a few are as low as B class and they can rise up to AAA+. Aces that raise to around the AAA class marker and who have showcased their strengths enough are considered to be Ace of Aces, so there can be a power level overlap.

Aces are Mages that focus almost exclusively on combat potential, they usually forgo other auxiliary skills such as stealth, communications, recon, or miscellaneous utility skills.

Aces are considered by Ground Force Strategic Command to be in equal strength as a battalion (1000 men) or for the stronger aces, as a Brigade (4000 Men). Naval Strategic Command Counts them as Frigates or Destroyers based on their strengths.

Aces are usually organized into Corps consisting of 20 to 45 Aces.

Aces are considered to be one of the most valuable military assets do to their extreme power and small sizes, a squad of aces can be quietly deployed to a planet where as 5 battalions of soldiers or 5 frigates could not be. The only things more valuable than an ace are certain advanced warships, Experimental tech and super weapons, and Ace of Aces.

Only 1 person in 1 million has the potential to become an Ace, most never reach that potential.

Space Combat-

Most Space Combat is Ship to Ship, however ground forces can attempt to board enemy ships but it almost never works.

Almost all Strikers and around half of all Aces, and even Some Ace of Aces, are not able to fight in space without environmental suits. The suits are fragile and tears will kill the mage inside. They also limit attack power do to dangers of excessive recoil, and reduce speed due to friction concerns. Also space junk presents a dangerous obstacle.

However Strikers and Ace, can be used to board enemy vessels. They can also get onto of a vessel and target its critical components, such as engines, the bridge, and weapons.

Mages capable of space combat without Environmental suits become deadly forces to be dealt with. Their small profiles and maneuverability make them extremely hard to hit, and inside of a battle their tiny heat signals and their lack of electronic signals allows them to hide.

Torpedo-

Torpedoes are much, much larger than missiles, have guidance systems and can often travel through dimensions. Can range any were from about the size of a bus to the size of a jumbo jet (minus the wings, sometimes) they contain a massive amount of destructive potential

Energy Beams-

Beams of energy, Phasors, lasers, Divine Buster. Energy Beams are a wave of energy that comes from an origin point and then moves outward towards its target. When the origin point stops releasing energy the beam stops.

Beams do not always go in strait lines.

Ship Directions-

When facing forward,

Starboard=Right

Port=Left

Aft=Rear section of the ship, inside of the ship.

Stern=Behind the ship

Fore= In front of the ship

Device AI / DAI-

Device with an AI installed. Since the complexity of the AI requires a higher grade device, Device AI's are not given to normal combat mages. Strikers get their own DAI's but they are basic ones. Aces usually custom make their own. DAI can be upgraded and learn to work with their partners, to increase their powers. Certain older DAI are technically considered Lost Logia

Missiles-

Rocket propelled guided ordnance with a warhead inside of it. Missiles range in size from as small as a 2 liter soda bottle to as large as car.

Energy Bolts-

Similar to beams, disrupters, blasters (starwars), however bolts lack the power of beams and almost always fly strait. The main difference being that the bolt is released from its origin point before it hits the target, or misses. Therefore a mage or ship can fire bolts and then move, or fire at other targets, or at the same one.

Shields-

The flat circle defenses that the mages create in the anime. Shields absorb the energy and then redirect it backwards. They function like mirrors, reflecting the energy off their surfaces. The larger the magical array is inside of a shield the more effective the shield is, but the more strain it puts on the user.

Shields block all damage, a person defended by a shield takes no damage from anything that hits the shield, but if the shield is overwhelmed then it breaks and provides no protection. Also when the shield breaks it sends a feedback pulse into the user which can injure and stun mages, and can overload the shield arrays on a ship.

Shields are particularly effective against explosives, missiles or energy balls that explode on contact. Even if the attack overloads the shield and destroys it, the energy from the attack is still wasted. Even the weakest shields can block missiles as long as they are created far enough away, however that is difficult. Creating any kind of defense further away from the user becomes much harder.

Directional shields-

Shields set to intercept an attack at an angle. Instead of redirecting the energy back into the attack it sends it off in a different direction. This is to help counter the shields weakness against beam weapons, but it is extremely hard to do correctly, if the angle is off the attack will slide off but still hit the user, and if the angle isn't strong enough it reflects a fraction of the attack into itself at an odd angle, which usually causes an explosion that destroys the shield.

Directional shields are particularly useful against single small attacks that are designed to penetrate inside of the target, before detonating, the energy bolts or balls just slide off of the shield. Used by Nanoha to block Fate's attacks in season one ep 11, just before she shoots off Phalanx Shift.

Directional shields are usually only used by experts and only when you have time aim up the shield against the attacks.

Mid-Childan Array-

Mid-Childan arrays consists of a single circle inside of 2 squares that rotate in opposite directions, the points of the squares then connect to another larger circle. A Mid-Childan array can be powered up by adding extra Squares, increasing the incantations wrapped around it, or as an advanced technique, adding secondary arrays onto the points of the squares, the array must maintain its symmetry so you must add at least 2 additional arrays on the sides.

Note. According to modern research, Mid-Childan arrays channel magic in a different way than the their Belkan counterparts, and thus, they cannot be effectively combined, any power gain if offset by the massive losses needed to reconvert the energy between the two arrays.

Belkan Arrays-

Belkan Arrays consist of a large triangle with a cross in center of it, on the points triangle circle arrays form along with the incantations. To increase the power of an array the user can increase the size of the circle arrays, increase the size of the cross and its incantations, increase the incantations, or place additional arrays inside of the circles connected to the triangle points.

Note. According to modern research, Belkan arrays channel magic in a different way than the their Mid-Childan counterparts, and thus, they cannot be effectively combined, any power gain if offset by the massive losses needed to reconvert the energy between the two arrays.

Point Defense-

Usually Guns of some form, but sometimes missiles, or even flak, can function as a point defense weapon. Point defense are rapid firing weapons that do light damage and have good tracking abilities. Their purpose is to shoot down really small targets that approach a ship, Missiles, torpedoes, and rockets, along with strike craft, and mages. Point defense is usually not powerful enough to be an effective offensive weapon, however against much smaller ships or at point blank range(Literally the ships need to be right next to each other) they can be a semi effective weapon.

Barriers-

Barriers are the dome shaped Defensive fields that mages and ships can create for defense. Barriers usually encase the target in a protective field, however if energy is an issue, or if a stronger barrier is need they can be set to face a direction.

Barriers do not block all damage like a shield does; instead they mitigate the damage received by a set amount. This is an oversimplification, but it will help to understand. Barriers have 2 strength ratings, the first is an overall strength rating, anything that overcomes that tears a hole in the barrier the more it beats that the larger the whole. The damage against that number is cumulative, so 4 attacks in the same spot add up, but barriers do regenerate over time, and that regeneration is a large part of barriers.

The second number is the mitigation amount. In effect that number is subtracted from the attack, if this reduces the attack to 0 or less than no damage is dealt, if it doesn't reduce it to 0, then any leftover passes through the barrier and harms the target.

As the barrier takes more and more damage the amount it can mitigate decreases. Its semi rare for a barrier to consistently block all damage from an attack. Barriers are used with armor, they decrease the damage dealt and then the armor absorbs the rest.

Barriers do best against beam weapons since they deal their damage over time, and the barrier can regenerate during that time. Were as a missile or energy ball attack is a single hit and then it releases all of its energy.

Armor-

A physical material placed over something to protect it, may or may not be used in tandem with a Field.

Armor ranges from simple leather jackets to full plate mail. On a ship it can be simple Iron plating, or something as advanced al ablative polarized ceramic plating, titanium alloys, reactive armor, or adamantine.

A Mage's Barrier Jacket is technically armor even though it's not a real material and is created by magic.

Claudia-

An advanced TSAB cruiser once, and possibly still, armed with an Arc-En-Ciel cannon. Was commanded by Admiral Crono Harlaown during the Jail Scaglietti incident.

Shahken-

Alien Race, Shahkens are a massive of parasitic worms that when properly nourished (inside of a dead body) are able to channel small amounts of mana to create a hive mind like conscious. The hive mind has only the most limited intelligence but the parasites are able to control the body with it.

In the event that the parasites inhabit a body with a linker core, they can use the mana from the core to enhance their hive mind, when inhabiting a powerful mage's body they can gain enough intelligence to be considered completely sentient. If the core is strong enough they can use it to regenerate the body back to a life like state, in which case they can cast spells as a mage of the same level as their host, they even gain rudimentary knowledge of all of the magical training the host body had.

Dimensional Seas-

Grouping of Sub Dimensions that boarder all other dimensions, is essentially the area between dimensions. Time flows about 300% faster in the dimensional seas as it does on 99% of other dimensions. Also the dimensional seas have "currents" that accelerate things that enter them. Inter-dimensional travel is conducted through the currents, allowing extremely fast movement over long distances. Also since time flows faster in the Seas, ships can cover great distances in minor amounts of observed time, but the ship will still experience the time. A 6 month trip through the seas will only take 2 months for those not on the ship.

Fields-

Basically Enchantments. Fields are anything that enhances the target. Examples of fields seen in the show would be, flight, sonic move, increased defense, increased strength, ect. Mages are not just automatically super strong or durable; fields are what allow them to handle getting shot with an attack that destroys buildings without being torn to pieces.

Fields are used by all mages in combination with armor, shields, and barriers. Besides armor which is granted by the device, fields are one of the first thing a mage learns. Without a strengthen field Mages wouldn't be able to handle the recoil from their own attacks.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

January 19th 2003

Onboard a TSAB vessel, a XI Class Corvette ,the Kym, Contracted mage, Senior grade, Fate Testerossa-Harlaown was having a bad day. She was currently debriefing the captain of the Kym about the mission she had just wrapped involving a smuggling ring attempting move a D class Lost Logia. The mission was a complete success with only minor injuries from her team, unfortunately all of the smugglers were killed before her team reached their hideout.

As Fate continued her mission report from behind the sealed glass of the interrogation room, she tried her hardest to talk in a clear voice so that she could get this over with as soon as possible. But that was easier said than done since she was only inhaling once every 30 seconds and every time she did she had to suppress the urge to be sick.

As she got to the point that lead to her current predicament she thought for a second that the captain actually started to smirk at her.

They were pursuing a band of smugglers who had gotten lucky and stumbled upon a D class lost logia, The Amulet of the Water God, which supposedly let one control water with their thoughts. The smugglers had set up camp inside of a water treatment plant in a slum section of a city on a Non-Administrated planet. Fate's Team commenced a high altitude insertion to avoid setting off the locals; the Kym was not able to teleport them down without a gate. After they made planet side they created a Sealed Space Barrier and entered the water system through an abandoned pipe system. However when they made their way to the subterranean treatment plant they discovered it empty. It showed signs of battle and 2 dead smugglers were left behind. The possibility that the locals had found the smugglers and got their hands on the Lost Logia was very, very bad, however all evidence pointed to the smugglers having being killed by being drowned, and it also appeared that the remaining ones had moved down through a pipe into deeper sections of the plant. Considering the Amulet allowed the wearer to control water, it seemed like an internal issue, that or the lost logia had gone out of control.

So Fate's team continued down the pipes following the trails of dead smugglers and their broken base. The pipes lead to a large, empty storage tank that split up into 3 different directions. It was obvious which way they had gone, but an awful odor was coming out of that pipe. As they continued down Fate's suspicions were proven correct, they were moving into a sewage processing plant, a really old, poorly maintained, sewage processing plant

As her team started to trudge through raw sewage, Fate was never so happy to have been able to fly. So she just floated down the tunnel, but that didn't do anything about the smell, but at least she didn't need to be knee deep in the sludge. However her team mates didn't share in that bit of good fortune and they seemed a bit put off.

After another 20 minutes of marching through the sewage pipes they entered into a large room with a large rusted tank in it, sewage was dripping out of the tank and the entire floor, every surface, was covered in muck. And in the center of it all was a large mass of bodies, the smugglers it seemed.

Dealing with Lost Logia is never a safe thing, and you have to come to expect the unexpected, but as her team approached the bodies and began searching them, nothing stirred, the only sounds were the plopping of their boots in the disgusting sewage.

Since Fate could fly, she hovered over the team and acted as a look out while they worked in groups of 3 to search the dead smugglers. For 5 minutes her team went through and examined each corps, but they found no sign of the Amulet of the Water God. Fate was so absorbed in her look out duties that she didn't even notice that her team mates had stopped the search and were discussing where the amulet could be. It wasn't until one of them yelled out to Sergeant Patrick Fitzpatrick.

"Yo, Sergeant Double P, How many Smugglers did the Intel, mention?"

Without turning to look at the speaker, Sergeant Fitzpatrick grumbled out a reply.

"Private Stevens, what have I told you about properly addressing me?"

"Aw come on dude, your name is Patrick Fitzpatrick, not making fun of that is like, denying yourself food. I mean, seriously, what were your parents thinking when they named you that? Its freaking hilarious."

"Perhaps a formal reprimand would change your opinion of my name."

Private Stevens quickly stopped laughing and straitened himself out,

"I am very sorry about that Sir! I will not mention your name again, Sir! No matter how Ridiculous it is, Sir!"

With an exasperated sigh, Sergeant Fitzpatrick finally turned to face Private Stevens.

"Ok so what were you saying?"

"I was wondering what Intel had to say about how many smugglers there we were gonna run into."

Steven's question was answered by Private First Class Cloirizjk Rstyrins, a Chaaral, and Sergeant Fitzpatrick's attendant and second in command. The small hunched over creature, only half the size of a human, responded in its normal ultra high pitched voice.

"Our intelligence told us to expect 18 smugglers, possibly more."

"Man your voice is still the most annoying thing ever, and I hear that your voice is deep for your people."

"That is accurate, an average Chaaral's voice pitch falls within a range that humans can't even hear."

"Wow that would be awesome compared to what we have to deal with."

Sergeant Fitzpatrick crossed his arms and cleared his through,

"Stevens."

"Yeah, yeah, my bad. Anyways, so there are 18 of them, yeah? And we past what, 2, in the main room, 3 in the first bit of pipes, 1 in that tank, 1 in the sewage pipes, and there are 10 dead bodies here. So we're missin one.

Sergeant Fitzpatrick, Private Cloirizjk, and even Fate looked around and counted the bodies. It was the sergeant who spoke up.

"Team, we're missing a corpse. Stevens and Behir, I want you guys to head back to where there main base was, double check to make sure we didn't miss anything. Check out that tank, make sure they didn't get thrown down another path. Keep in telepathic communications at all times and be careful. The rest of you, standard grid search, we need to go over every inch of this room. Testarossa stay up there and keep watch, but I also want you to perform an Wide Area Search, see if you can target any magical signal in any of the other tunnels, look for Linker Cores and Devices.

"Um are you sure about that Sir? Lost Logia sometimes respond and activate when there is ambient magic in their environment, a WAS throws out an awful lot of that. Also my WAS isn't passive in nature, if there is any one here it will give our position away."

"That's a chance we are going to have to take, and if your search does give away our position, then the remaining smugglers will either come towards us our try to flee, and we have this area locked down tight. But just in case…"

Sergeant Fitzpatrick then turned and addressed the other team members,

"Team, Private Fate is going to cast an WAS, This might cause our target to activate, so be extra cautious, that especially goes for you two, Stevens and Behir, you'll be on your own. Oh, and if any of you guys want to see how to perform a WAS, watch Private Testarossa."

Fate blushed, she hated being singled out due to her magical powers. When her trial was over and she started working as a normal contracted mage with the TSAB, she had had a revelation of sorts, and she didn't like it. Fate's first contact with other Mages had led her to a completely wrong conclusion. Her mother, Nanoha, Crono, Admiral Lindy, all of the Wolkenritter, and even Yunno, were all extraordinary powerful Mages, But with her limited knowledge and broken memories she had assumed that they were all normal, or that she was in fact weak, since her mother was never pleased with her progress.

It wasn't until she started training with regular Mages that she realized how strong she was, and how weak the average person was. Were as she could instinctively create a flight field, an average Mage would train for almost 2 years to learn that skill, and many just lacked the raw power to ever master flight.

That point was hammered home, time and time again.

When she was reprimanded for disobeying a direct order from one of her teachers. The teacher had told her to remove her fields and she claimed she didn't have any up, the teacher had yelled at her before sending her to the disciplinary office, where, after doing a few tests, they discovered that she always had several A class strengthening fields operation on herself. It took her almost an entire day to figure out how to remove them.

Or when one of her classmates, upset that she had once again been ranked first, had claimed her strength came from having Bardiche. The student in question had demanded that they switch devices, he would use Bardiche and she would use the standard device. When Fate tried to send her magical energy though the device she ended up overwhelming it and it exploded in her hands, she spent the next week and a half sitting out of training while the burns healed. As for her classmate that proposed this idea, when he tried to activate Bardiche, the initial mana drain completely exhausted his Linker Core, leading to a core rupture, and when Bardiche couldn't get enough energy from that source it started to convert his physical body into energy, essentially eating through his internal organs. He spent 6 months in an Intensive Care unit and his Linker Core was completely destroyed.

Whereas all of these other people train for years to attain even a fraction of her power, she was created with it. Fate hadn't earned her strength like they had and that made her feel very self-conscious. And since the information pertaining to the Precia Testarossa Incident was classified, no one knew about her "Birth" they all just assumed that she was a prodigy and always heaped mountains of praise on her.

So under the curious eyes of her peers, Fate tried to hid her embarrassment and discomfort, and set up a massive Mid-Childan array, and then began her incantation for her WAS

"Wild and untamed forces of elemental Energy…"

As she started her incantation lines of electricity started forming across the surfaces in the room, after the formed they were pulled off and began to orbit Fate, and as more came up they started forming into six spheres of energy.

"Bend to my will and receive my command…"

As more and more electricity was pulled into the orbs, they began to change their shape into pillars of glowing yellow electricity.

"Extend my reach to find what I seek…"

The glowing pillars began to stretch. When they stopped, each was over 3 times as tall as Fate. The array underneath her feet was duplicated over head and 4 more were created on each of her sides, essentially creating a cube of Magical arrays.

"One flies North…"

One of the massive pillars stopped its orbit, rotated so that it was horizontal, and then moved into a position so that it was facing to the north and its tail touched the center of one of the Northern facing array.

"One flies South…"

Another pillar did the same, this time facing South.

"One flies East…"

Again, another pillar changed and went to the East.

"One flies West…"

And a fourth pillar took up position against her Westward facing Array.

"One to pierce into Terra's Heart…"

A pillar rotated 180 degrees and then went under Fate's bottom array, rested its tail against the center of the array and its nose against the ground.

"One to piece the endless heavens above…"

The final pillar moved up and connected to the top most array.

"Go forward to grasp my quarry"

Her arrays began to merge with the tails of the pillars, then they began to spin. The pillars, now connected to the arrays, began to spin also. The arrays picked up so much speed that they obscured Fate from view. From the center of the spinning arrays, Fate finished her incantation.

"Spring Forth!"

All at once the arrays burst into a brilliant golden haze and the pillars splintered into thousands of tiny lines. The lines shot out faster than the eye could see, slammed into the walls and then disappeared.

The team members were taken aback, not one of them had ever seen a Wide Area Search this, flashy. As the smell of ozone mixed with the scent of raw sewage the 8 members of the team who stayed behind just gawked at Fate as she floated above their heads, eyes closed with her head down.

As the WAS ended Fate opened her eyes only to see every one staring at her. Once again hiding her blush, she addressed Sergeant Fitzpatrick.

"Sir, my Wide Area Search is complete, there are no magic signals within a 25 kilometer radius."

"Uh, 25 Kilometers?"

"Should I have gone further? I don't think that this facility extends that far."

"Um no, that's fine, I guess. I was expecting something more in the, uh, 1-2 kilometer range."

"Oh"

There was an awkward pause as the rest of the team still gawked at Fate and she tried her hardest to not notice.

"So, you said you found nothing? Within 25 Kilometers?"

"Yes, the WAS entered the ground and searched for anything emitting any kind of energy, I had a few response, but they all turned out to be electric systems used in this plant."

"So that means that the Lost Logia either isn't with in 25 km, or is resistant to searches."

Out of the other members of the team, Private Rstyrins was the first to regain his composure, and in his squeaky voice, added,

"Also, the target could be emitting zero magical energy. If it didn't have an energy signature, Private Testarossa's search could have bypassed it."

Fate thought about that for a second, and it seemed like a sound theory, however it was unlikely that the Amulet would not have any magical signature, but if it had never been activated, and the smugglers had been killed in some other manner, it was possible.

"Yeah, that's possible, if the Target had never activated it would not have any signature, my search would have viewed it as a piece of scrap metal. If that's the case, and my Search did not force it to activate, then it might be impossible to find. Are only hopes would be to attempt to force it to activate, or that it is in this room."

"Hrmmm" Sergeant Fitzpatrick scratched the stubble on his chin while he thought to himself. Then he had a moment of clarity and looked up at Fate.

"Wait, you said it could be in this room still?

"Uh, Yes it could…."

Fate was slightly confused by his question.

"You didn't Search this room?"

"Um no I did not."

"Why?"

"Um, If I had included this room in the search I would have gotten responses from all of you and your device, and the smugglers. I would have had to alter the parameters of the search to avoid them, but I don't know anything else about the amulet so I had to search for magical signals."

"Oh that makes sense. So it could be in here with use then? And your Search could have woken it up?

"Yes, if it is in here, which it could be, it likely would have activated when it noticed the search. We still don't know exactly what its capabilities are besides its ability to control water…"

As Fate trailed off both Sergeant Fitzpatrick and Private Rstyrins stared up at her warily. As Fate looked around, they both mirrored her action. Private Rstyrins scanned his gaze over the crumbled scaffolding on the eastward wall while Sergeant Fitzpatrick looked between the Auxiliary Tanks to the side. Finally Private Rstyrins broke the silence with a single word.

"What?"

"The water is moving."

Both the Sergeant and the Private turned to look at the water.

"You're right, it is."

"Every one stop moving. Stand still."

As everyone stood still they could see the slight ripples in the sludge, and as they stood in silence the only sound was the gentle splashing as the ripples broke across their boots.

"Perhaps there is an opening where the sewage is flowing in."

"No, if the water was flowing naturally there would be an air current going with it, but the air is complety still."

"Testarossa, can you see from up there if there is a spot its focused on? Or anything to indicate were our target might be?"

"That tank in the center of the room, the one with the crack, the sewage is swirling around it. I think our target is inside of it."

"You sure?"

After Fate nodded a yes, the Sergeant motioned for the team to come over. After they circled around he began to outline his plan.

"Alright people, looks like our target is inside of that tank over there. I've already called Behir and Stevens back, but I don't think we have the time to wait for them, so we are going to do this now. You all good to go with this?"

One by one the team answered with an affirmative the sergeant went on.

" Ok first, Private Wilder, I want you to deploy the Portable Dimensional Transport Gate, If this goes to hell I want to be able to get out, and without that gate we won't even be able to get off planet. Set it up back in the tunnel behind us, away from this room. Keep it on standby incased we need to go fast. Got that?"

"Sir, yes Sir"

"Ok then, Testarossa, you're our trump card, you're on standby until we see how this develops. The rest of you, we are going to bring that tank down. Private Robinson I want you up on that drainage pipe over on the west wall, Ramirez, get back into the pipe we came out of and provide sniper support. Private Rstyrins, take Driver and Callow and position yourselves up on that scaffolding. White, I want you over by that smaller tank, the one behind the main tank, stay under Robinson and use it for cover. Private Eslad, you're with me. Ok people get moving."

As the team broke out of their huddle and moved into their positions, Fate continued to hover overhead, But she felt uneasy. Something was nagging in the back of her mind and was telling her this was probably a bad idea but she couldn't figure out why. And in the absence of a better idea, she was forced to go along with this plan.

After her team mates go into position the sergeant called out again.

"Ok, is everyone were they need to be? Good. Ramirez, I want you to hold off until we get this tank down, if anything comes out I want you to aim up a shot, but only fire on my mark."

"Got it Sir"

"Ok then, every one hit the tank with everything you have. Ready to fire on my command."

The sergeant looked around one last time to make sure his people were ready. Around the room The 6 remaining members of the team, partially hidden behind cover, readied their Staffs and prepared to fire.

"Fire!"

At his command the room lit up as a the team members opened fire on the tank. As the different colored energy bolts slammed into the tank, it started to crumble, holes were torn through the rusted iron while globs of molten metal oozed down and fell into the sewage. The sound of sizzling Iron mixed with the screech of energy bolts and that loud cracking sounds from the breaking tank drowned out all other sound.

As the tank started to break apart, Fate could see Private Ramirez kneeling in the pipe looking through the scope on his device for a clean shot, but even as things went according to plan she still felt like something was wrong.

While their energy assault continued, the top have of the tank started to splinter into pieces, a large chunk broke off and fell back into the tank and the rest started to tilt to the side, a few more shots were fired and then the Sergeant ordered a cease fire.

The team watched as the top section continued its tilt to the side as the cracks expanded across the entire surface. They with a loud screech the tank broke apart and the top half fell into the sewage with disgusting "Sploosh"

After the tank had broke, through the opening, raw sewage began to bubble out. It bubbled out, ran down the sides and splashed into the muck on the floor.

The team members couldn't see the important part, but from Fate's vantage point she could see it clearly. The sludge coming out of the tank was not mixing with the sewage already on the ground, as it fell it just pushed it away in a clearly visible line, providing one was directly above that line. It was almost as if they were liquids of two different polarities, or that one was under the effect of a powerful magical field. Fate decided to share this information with her team.

"Sergeant, the mass of sewage is our target, The amulet must be inside"

Fate's warning served no purpose; before she finished her sentence the mass had already started to rise above the ground forming a massive ball of sludge with thrashing liquid tentacles.

It was Private Ramirez who spoke up next.

"Sergeant, I am reading a large magical signature through my scope in the center of that, but it's too thick for me to get a shot in."

"Ok people before it starts doing something lets thin it out, Fire!"

As the mass of raw sewage started pulling itself out of the broken tank, the soldiers opened fire on it. Their energy bolts shearing chunks of it off while even more was turned to steam and floated away. Even with all of them firing at once, it was having very little effect.

While the TSAB mages continued to bombard it with attacks, the Lost Logia controlling the sewage finished pulling itself out and launched its own attack. Its tentacle arms shout out towards Privates Robinson and White, Smashing through the tank that Private White was using for cover, and knocking Private Robinson off of his position on the drainage pipe.

As it lumbered towards to two vulnerable mages, its tentacles were coming dangerously close to crushing the two Privates. At this point Fate decided it was time for her to enter the fight.

"Arc Saber!"

A Bright rotating blade flew forth and sliced of the outstretched tentacles, then turned upward and smashed into the ceiling right in front of the target. The force from the shockwave caused the other mages to stumble, and the target that was now off balance, to fall backwards, towards Sergeant Fitzpatrick and Private Eslad.

As the two hurried to get out of its way, Private Rstyrins called out to his squad.

"Privates Callow and Driver, switch from Bolts to Heavy Energy Ball attacks."

The three of them began charging up for their attacks, as the glow intensified on the tips of their weapons, the target began to right itself. Right as the blob got back up and started forming new tentacles, Privates Rstyrins, Callow, and Driver released their charged up attacks, the blue, red, and gray energy balls shot towards their target before ripping into its body and detonating. The Blob reeled backwards as large chunks of its body were blown away, but then it lunged forward towards its attackers, smashing its body into the scaffolding that they were standing on.

The Force of the attack created a crater in the wall with cracks going down to the floor and up the ceiling. The vibration throughout the landing caused Private Driver to fall off and into the muck.

Fate, who had been moving private Robinson to safety, launched her Photon Lancer attack as she took back to the air. The 6 Yellow energy Balls impacted and exploded across its back, but it shrugged off the damage. It flung itself sideways, slamming into Private Callow and sending her flying into the wall. As the Blob reared back and prepared to lunge into Private Rstyrins, Fate initiated a Sonic Move to get herself in front of the private. She brought up a shield to block its attack right as it lunged. Its entire upper mass slammed into her shield with enough force to pulverize stone, but her shield barely even wavered. Unfortunately its viscous body began to go around the sides of her shield, so she formed a defensive barrier around herself and Private Rstyrins, and then let her shield drop. Without the shield blocking it, the target smashed into the barrier and ground it into the wall.

After it pulled back so it could lunge again, Fate dropped her barrier and initiated another sonic move; she took Private Rstyrins off of the scaffolding and back to safety. After dropping Rstyrins off, she flew over the blobs body, all the while dodging its tentacles and returning fire with Photon Lancers. After she got above it she let loose with another Arc Saber. The spinning blade sliced right through its body from top to bottom, but its gelatinous body simply merged back into itself with no visible damage.

While Fate was keeping it distracted, Sergeant Fitzpatrick took the time to order his people into position.

"White, behind that vat, Driver get Callow. Rstyrins, Robinson stay back, keep firing. Ramirez when are you going to take that shot?"

"Sorry Sir, But its to thick, my shot wont reach the Amulet."

"God Damnit! Testarossa, You hear me? We need to thin its body down more, Ramirez doesn't have a shot!"

"Ok I have an idea, we need to hit it all at once, give me a second to get into position."

As Fate was speaking she continued to fire Arc Sabers down into its body while slicing off any tentacles that approached her. Finally the blob lunged upward trying to smash her into the roof. She initiated a Third Sonic Move and in mid move fired off another Arc Saber. As the blob stretched itself to smash into the ceiling her Arc Saber caught it in the center, cutting off the top section that had just stretched to attack her. As its top half tumbled apart and it struggled to reform itself, Fate ended her Sonic Move right behind the other members of her team.

"Please keep it from reforming while I prepare."

The others were slightly unprepared to have her suddenly appear behind them, but they quickly got over it and began firing upon the blob, slowing its reformation process. Meanwhile, Fate began her attack.

Sergeant Fitzpatrick had worked with Private Testarossa several times in the last few months. It had only taken one mission for him to realize, that even though she was not officially classified as such, she was defiantly an Ace, probably Ranked somewhere in the Upper A's. He also knew that he had never seen her fight using her true combat style. He knew she was fast and could use Sonic Move, He knew she had near impenetrable defenses, He had seen her use Photon Lancer and Arc Saber before, he had even seen her use an attack she called, "Thunder Smasher" to create an emergency exit out the side of a mountain. So sergeant Fitzpatrick was well versed in the skills that Fate had shown, and he used that knowledge and came to a conclusion; that whatever she was preparing for right now, was something new, and something big. So when a Massive Array formed underneath her, he was not caught off guard, but his men were clearly surprised. And for the first time, he heard her device speak.

"Phalanx Shift"

Bardiche's mechanical voice rang out and echoed across the room, even over the sounds of combat.

As massive orbs of magical energy coalesced around Fate, she continued her incantation.

"Arukas, Krutas, Eygias…"

The orbs got even larger, larger than the ones that formed during her WAS, and more numerous.

"Heavenly gods who shine over all, descend upon us now as I guide you."

The orbs began to pulsate with their contained energy, large sparks shot from the spheres and into the ground or each other.

"Baruel, Zaluel, Browzel…"

The air around fate became so charged with energy that the water around her started to evaporate, the plaster and cement in the wall behind her and floor under her began to crack and crumble.

"Photon Lancer, PHALANX SHIFT!"

As Fate raised her hand to direct the attack the energy condensed even more, the air around her was warped and the ground around her was reduced to dust. The glow from her magical energies illuminated the entire room, it was so bright that the others couldn't even look in her direction.

"Strike it down! Fire!"

As she finished her incantation and brought her hand down, all at once hundreds of bright balls of magical energy streaked forward towards the mass of sewage. They moved at such speeds that the air around them burst into short lived flames, the water under them was vaporized as they past, they tore apart the ground. They slammed into the blob with such force that it was lifted off the ground and thrown into the corner. With each explosion, a shockwave burst out and crushed the room; the metal scaffolding was smashed into the walls, the tanks were flattened, even the walls themselves were compacted and pushed deeper into the earth.

After the explosions stopped, the ambient magical glow faded, and the smoke cleared, the blob still stood. Its mass was visibly reduced and lines of electricity still flowed through its body. It stumbled forward trying to reform its body.

"Thunder Fall!"

As Fate launched her next attack, the area around the targets burst into activity as lines of electricity gathered to form bolts of pure lightning. The lightning bolts rained down and sliced through the Blob's body. The mass of sewage convulsed and withered as its body was vaporized. The storm of electricity continued as its body slowly got smaller.

Then from the other side of the room, from out of a pipe in the wall, a deep green beam, no thicker than a few millimeters, flew out. It sliced into the center of the blob's body, and continued on, pushing a bloated body out of the other side. As the body fell to the ground, a shinning silver necklace could be seen around its neck.

Without the Amulet of the Water God to control it, the blob stopped moving, so Fate canceled her attack.

Everyone slowly got to their feet and there was a moment of silence. The blob started to collapse, without its gelatinous form the water in it flowed into the ground and the sewage formed into a pile of filth.

Every one cautiously circled the blob, afraid it might start to attack again.

"Do you think it's dead?"

"It's a pile of crap, it was never alive in the first place."

"So, who wants to go over there and get the amulet?"

They all looked nervously amongst themselves until Fate stepped forward. She cautiously walked around the mountain of sewage until she got to the body that had fallen out. The corpse, one of the smugglers, was covered in filth and because it had been submerged in water for so long, was horribly bloated. The Amulet was pulled tightly across the swollen neck, and there was no way she was going to be able to get it off, not to mention that fact that just looking at the body repulsed her, let alone touching it. Being resourceful, Fate channel pure electricity into the body, the electrical current caused the body to break down and it slowly turned to dust.

After the former smuggler had disintegrated she pulled the Amulet form its remains and made her way back to the squad. It was at that point that the blob exploded.

Wrapping up her report to the captain, Fate wanted nothing more than to take a shower, a really long, hot shower. After the blob had exploded without warning, Fate, who had been standing right next to it, had been hit with a wall of rotten sewage. So now with the reports being filled by Private Rstyrins and Sergeant Fitzpatrick dealing with the other loose ends, Fate just wanted to get clean.

"Um Sir, If that would be all…."

"Yes well everything is in order here. Unfortunately, the Kym is a small short range transport ship, we don't have a shower system. We will be transporting the other members of the directly to the barracks back at naval Headquarters , except for Private Callow who is being sent to a medical unit. Do you want to go with them? Or we can divert a little bit and send you back to your home on Earth."

Fate really didn't want to be seen by any of her colleges while smelling like a cesspool, so she decided to be sent home.

"Sir if you wouldn't mind, could we divert long enough for me to be sent home? I don't have any assignments waiting for me and I would like to relax for a while."

"Yes that's fine, we will be at the transport site in 10 minutes, but if you wouldn't mind could you stay in that room until we arrive? Its air tight."

For the next 10 minutes Fate took the time to plan out her next few days. She wanted to spend as much time in school as she could, so that would be taking up her days, but she was unsure what to do with the rest of her free time. It was still mid January and really cold, but there was no snow, so that limited any outdoor activities. She had enjoyed that karaoke thing that Arisa and Suzuka had brought her to. Nanoha had insisted that they both sing this song called "Take a Shot" she said it reminded her of the first time they had worked together. Maybe if everyone was free they would want to go do Karaoke again. She made a note to ask her friends about that.

She also wanted to go see Arisa's dogs again, Fate seemed to have a soft spot for them. Oh and she wanted to go to a movie theater, Hayate had mentioned that before, she said it was like watching a giant TV. Speaking of TV, she was intrigued by these "video game" things that Suzuka was into. It was like some kind of combat simulation that only used your fingers. Nanoha had also mentioned something about going sightseeing in Tokyo, she wanted to show Fate all of the landmarks and to go shopping in Shibuya, and to show her what Earth people thought Mages were by taking her to Akihabara.

While Fate planned out her week, the Kym had reached the transport point. Fate quickly made her way to the teleportation room while trying to avoid meeting anyone else. After she got there, the Gate was powered up and in a burst of energy, Fate was launched through the Dimensional Lines and sent to the Gate in the Harlaown Household on earth, that she currently had exclusive use of.

As Fate emerged from the Dimensional Line she was in at the gate way in her house, she realized something was wrong. In the split second since she had reemerged she noticed a sensory barrier that was blocking sight and sound in her living room, but through it she could sense intruders in her house, 18 of them. This should be impossible; the house was protected by several high level defensive spells. One of which made it impossible to perceive unless you knew it was there, which meant that whoever was in her home, knew she lived there, and was powerful enough to bypass all of her defenses.

Before the glow from the teleportation had died down, Fate had already dropped into a defensive stance and began calling up defensive and strengthening fields. She was halfway through summoning Bardiche when the sensory barrier was dropped. Several loud bangs went off and she was momentarily blinded by light as some material was thrown over her head. Then while she was still stunned, 18 people jumped out from behind the furniture and yelled.

"HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY, FATE-CHAN"

Real World Refrences.

"Take a Shot" Insert Song that plays during Episode 12, Season one, when Fate recovers and enters the garden of time to help Nanoha.

Shibuya-Shopping district in Tokyo, known for its Fashion stores.

Akihabara-Shopping district of Tokyo known for its otaku goods and electronics.

Chapter Glossary.

Contracted Mage-

A mage that works for the TSAB, but is not formally part of their military forces. A mercenary of sorts. Most Contracted Mages eventually enter the military, but some only work for the duration of a single case.

Contracted mages also include specialist mages that are not combat oriented but that are asked for help from the TSAB.

Contracted mages are given honorary ranks, usually non officer positions

Lost Logia-

Artifacts of long lost civilizations. Lost Logia can have any number of effects and can be extremely dangerous. They defy conventional wisdom in regards to magical artifacts in that they can activate and operate themselves, with varying degrees of control.

Teleportation Gate-

Teleportation works by encasing the mater to be transported within a special designed barrier, and then injecting the barrier into the Dimensional Lines. The barrier has a receiving code imprinted in it that guides it towards an exit point in the lines. A single Receiving code only works for one point.

To teleport without a gate involves using a specific kind of search magic to probe through the Dimensional Lines and figure out what exit pathway leads to where you want to teleport to. The Search magic requires enormous magic that only dedicated teleportation facilities have.

Teleporting with a gate is much easier. The gate is connected to a certain exit path, so no matter where the gate goes it will always connect to the same Dimensional Lines, which means the same Receiving Code will always work for the same Gate. This eliminates the need for the Search Magic.

Also, when using the gate, a signal is shot through first that activates the gate. The gate then sends an energy stream through the line at the same time the main gate is imputing the mass. The energy stream fortifies the barrier reducing the overall amount of energy needed.

Sealed Space Barrier-

Barriers used to hid magical combat from normal people.

Barriers used to create a sub-dimension within the barrier. A sealed Space barrier is cast on top of an area, making a copy stored in the sub dimension. The barrier does not copy organic matter, so any life forms caught within it are either kept in the main dimension, or shifted into the Sub dimension.

The barrier can be set to differentiate based on magical signatures, that means that beings without magic will stay out and beings with will be sent in. this allows mages to operate at anytime in places that would normally contain witnesses.

Chaaral-

Alien Race, Hunched over posture and only 3-4 feet tall. Skin is usual dry and thick. Skin tones are various shades of blue. Voice ranged around 18,000 to 40,000 Hz. Only a small fraction of Chaaral speak within a range that humans can hear.

Chaaral rarely become mages, their Linker Cores are sized appropriately for their bodies, the strongest Chaaral almost never go above B Class.

Telepathy-

A way of sending thoughts over distances by using the mind.

The power and skill needed to perform telepathy is very dependent on what form of telepathy. One way connections can be created easily and dropped after sending the thought. 2 way connections require more energy and skill to maintain. The longer the range, and the presence of obstacles between increased the powered needed. Telepathy through dimensions is almost impossible. Telepathy between more people is harder to maintain.

Devices can help maintain connections.

Wide Area Search-

WAS for short. A WAS is a type of search magic that covers large distances. Different from Scrying, a WAS searches everything within a distance around the caster. Effectively searching a sphere around the caster. Scrying searches a location away from the caster. WAS has less range than Scrying, but covers more area.

WAS is a broad term. Magic that sense vibrations, heat, magical energy, electrical signals, or anything else is considered a WAS. Magic that creates sentries that transmit image back to the caster are also considered to be an WAS. Magic that goes out and physically feels for things is also considered to be WAS

Mana Drain-

The drain received from operating a Device. Different levels of device require different amounts of energy, giving low level mages high level devices will exhaust the mage and serve no good.

Changing the devices form can change its Mana Drain. In their device form they Drain the least mana, while in combat forms they drain the most.

If a device drains all of its user's mana it will revert back to device form, and if the user still isn't regenerating mana, it will enter standby.

If a user runs out of mana a device can convert the users physical body into mana. This often causes long term damage to the mage.

Incantation-

Phrase that is verbally spoken or written inside of an array, that increases power and control of a spell.

Incantations are often specific to a certain spell, and are not interchangeable. Verbal incantations do not work unless an actual sound is produce, so in space they do not work.

Some high level spells are nearly impossible to cast without an incantation, or if they are their control and power drop drastically.

Incantations require an array to serve any purpose.

Incantations obviously increase the casting time of spells


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

September 22nd 2045

Corporal Joanne Gordon was fascinated by the concept of "Luck," There were ideas in the Magical Theories community that claimed that "Luck" was Probability Altering Field that people can instinctively create in themselves, to varying degrees of success. Others think that "Luck" involves using small fields subconsciously to make "Luck" happen, such as moving just slightly faster so that your hand grabs the coin while it is still heads up. Joanne has followed the reports and debate earnestly, because both options led to fascinating conclusions.

If people could use magic to alter probability instinctively, that that should also mean that with training they could learn to do it at command, the possibilities were endless. And if people are subconsciously forcing events to happen, that sheds light on the untapped potential of people everywhere.

With understanding and practice, with control, people could learn to reduce their "Bad Luck."

But there was another theory she was interested in, the idea that "Bad Luck," wasn't an aspect of luck at all. When a person has a bout of misfortune, it's actually a "Luck" face off with another person, and that person just had more or better "Luck" than the looser.

But an Even more obscure theory states that all luck is "Good Luck" because even when we don't "Win," the "Loss" that we get instead is actually better for you.

Joanne liked that last theory. It made it seem like some kind of cosmic force, fate perhaps, watches everyone and guides them towards the best outcomes.

So Joanne strongly believed that her current state of affairs was, contrary to what almost everyone else believed to be, was in fact, "Good Luck"

Over 10 years ago, Joanne has just finished primary school, and with her impressive magical powers, she was already ranked C- class with no training at age 18, she was considering a career with the Allied States Navy. It was even possible that she could become a Striker. But she was torn; she also had found a calling in magical research. She deeply enjoyed coming up with theories, refining them, and then trying to prove them.

So she had flipped a coin.

She eventually was accepted into one of the best universities on Oridian and majored in Theoretical Magic; she then went on to specialize in Theoretical Field Research. After she graduated at one of the top students in her class, she got an internship as a renowned research lab. Eventually her internship became full time employment and for 2 years she worked as a researcher along with some of the greatest minds in the Allied States. Life was a joy, everyday spent hypothesizing and theorizing, and then pitting those ideas against reality. She loved researching, but at the back of her mind, she always considered what it would be like to be a soldier instead; to instead deal with the practical side of magic instead of the theoretical.

So, three days ago, when it was discovered that a massive TSAB armada was approaching Oridian, and she was conscripted into the military, she kind of considered it to be, "Good Luck"

When she was drafted they had reevaluated her magic talents, and she had been ranked as B+ class. She was given the rank of Corporal and considered as a Striker. She was happy to get a chance to try the practical side of magic, and to make a difference in the here and now. And Joanne was proud to serve her country, she would be fighting to protect over 700 years of democracy and freedom; she just wished it was under, better circumstances.

Before she had been conscripted, the Allied State Navel forces had withdrawn from the planet, they were not strong enough to fight the TSAB, so rather than sacrifice themselves in a fruitless defense, they fell back to form up with other ASN forces. Unfortunately, all that left behind to defend Oridian was the automated defense network of weapons satellites in orbit. While the defense net was large and each satellite was equipped with a powerful long range medium cannon along with some point defense and a short range missile pod, in reality, they were no match against dedicated warships. They were designed to augment a defensive fleet, not operate on their own. They would likely do nothing to halt the TSAB's attack, which meant that when the ground battle happened, the TSAB would have complete orbital superiority, which Joanne reminder herself, they had had for all other ground invasions anyway. So in hindsight, it was probably better that the ships had retreated.

The speed of the TSAB advanced after they had halted their attacks at the end of August had caught the ASN command off guard. The ASN was falling back to only a few defensive positions at the absolute limits of their territory. They were giving up the less defendable positions to stall for time while they fortified their last few bases and waited for another nation to get their forces here to help. Joanne was no military strategist, but she had noticed a definite shift in policy after the Battle of Taleron, but the ASN press office had immediately released a statement saying that the defenders had fought valiantly, but ultimately had been destroyed while dealing significant damage to the TSAB fleet, and that the 6 Fleet Admirals, despite reports to the contrary, were not on the station when it was attacked.

So the strategy on Oridian was, "Survive until help arrives," and Joanne wasn't a big fan of it. But she had to admit that they seemed to be in a good position. The real problem was the complete lack of any intelligence on the TSAB's ground war capabilities. Once they enter orbit, they cover the planet in a scrambling field and blocked all outbound transmissions. For all the ASN knew, there were multiple planets still holding out against the TSAB forces.

In fact that scrambling field was one of the biggest problems that had to be dealt with. It will interfere with planet based communications, making contact between different forces impossible, and the ground based sensors would not be able to accurate view the TSAB forces in orbit.

Eventually command had settled on what was being called "The Turtle Defense Plan." All military forces would occupy 4 separate cities situated on opposite sides of the planet, this would force the TSAB to split up their forces and prevent them from using one massed attack. The cities were all in defendable location with some form of strategic value. The soldiers would dig in and fortify themselves as much as possible. Each force was given a few large scale Anti-ship ground based cannons, weapons platforms designed to attack capital ships in the upper altitudes, some heavy dome barriers, and a few large scale shield generators.

The idea was that the barriers and shields would defend against artillery bombardments, strike craft, and if the TSAB brought their ships planet side to assist their ground forces, the shields would hold them off long enough for the Anti-ship cannons to take them out. The TSAB forces would be forced to make a ground attack without any real support, and the Allied States forces could use their own artillery and planet based strike craft to hold them off.

After being briefed on this plan, Joanne had spotted a big weak point and had brought it up during the meeting. The plan offers no defense against an orbital bombardment by heavy weapons. The captain in charge of the meeting had laughed at her when she spoke up and promptly explained why an Orbital attack was not an issue.

During the last Lawful Use of Weapons in Warfare Summit back in 2036, it was reaffirmed that orbital bombardment of a planet was an A class War Crime, to orbitaly attack a civilized area increased that to a S class war crime. Since the first Lawful Use of Weapons in Warfare summit in 821, over 1200 year ago, there have been less than 10 incidents where a planet was attacked from orbit. Furthermore, attacking a planet from orbit caused catastrophic environmental damage, the planet would be uninhabitable for the next 10 to 20 years, and anything of value on the planet would be destroyed. It would actually be worse than trying to colonize and then terraform a new planet.

Not completely satisfied, but not wanting to be ostracized by the captain any longer, Joanne let the subject drop.

After the briefing Joanne had boarded a commercial airliner commandeered for military use, and flown down to the southern continent, to the resort city known as New Joy Harbors. As her aircraft circled the city, she could see its value as a "Last Stand" point. In addition to being known as a vacation hotspot, New Joy Harbors was also a major agriculture center; the city was surrounded by fields of grain. But more impressive, the entire city was built around a river delta, with the downtown section built into the artificially created islands on the delta. The section that the military would be occupying was essentially a series of built up islands connected by bridges and underground tunnel, even to a complete armature, the defensive potential was huge.

As her plane landed and Joanne stepped out into the warm tropical sun, she was taken aback by the jovial atmosphere, and the sheer number of people. She expected to see a crisp cut military operation, building fortifications, moving equipment, constructing bunkers, and such. And she did see all of that, but mixed in around it was an undeniable party atmosphere. People were coming and going from dance clubs and bars, restaurants were open to business and nearby shops were selling goods to soldiers and civilians alike, from a nearby park she could see a beach volleyball competition in the works while a large cook out was taking place next to it, all the while loudspeakers blared music.

And there were civilians everywhere. This place would become a battle field in as little as a few hours, and people were shopping, having parties and general having a good time, all the while an invasion of the planet was in the works.

An optimist would say that this shows the indomitable spirit of these people, that even in the face of possible death, they are determined to live their lives to the fullest. A pessimist would say that this shows the folly of these people, that they refuse to understand their situation.

Joanne wondered which she was.

Whichever she was, she knew that civilians should not be playing around like this, so she did what any normal person would do when faced with a quandary, and she asked someone else.

She went over to a Lieutenant who was directing the construction of an AA battery. He initially ignored her and when pressed, mentioned how busy he was, but when he saw she wore the uniform of a Striker, he quickly freed up some time.

The answer was something that in retrospect was actually obvious. Oridian had an estimated 27 billion people on it, there was no way that all of those people were going to evacuate in time, and even if they did there was no where to put that many refugees. Sure a lot had fled in the weeks before, and even more had left once the TSAB had renewed their attacks, but many more were left behind. Some of those that didn't make it off planet had moved to the country side, hiding in small villages and towns, or even hiding by themselves in the wilderness. Others had gone to the other major cities that would not be serving as defensive points, hoping that the TSAB would ignore them if they avoided the military. However a large portion of people, decided that they were safest within reach of the military, those people stayed in the suburbs around the cities, or in the case of New Joy Harbors, stayed in the sections of city on the riverbed. A few took that idea to the extreme and decided that they were safest within the military's control, and those people were on the islands.

Joanne made her way to where she was stationed, which on an ironic and slightly ominous note, was a grave yard. One of the easternmost islands, one that happened to have a great view of the harbor, was entirely devoted to a graveyard, or cemetery as is more proper. The cemetery is the main resting place for the people of New Joy Harbors; it contains thousands of resting places, mausoleums, crypts and family tombs.

The irony of defending billions of people from what was assumed a dead civilization while standing in a graveyard.

Also if things went poorly, she could also look for a nice resting place.

As she walked through the main gates of "Lori Vaughan Memorial Cemetery" she noticed that the military had done some "renovating." In the center of the cemetery was a large hill that could be seen from the entire island. The pictures advertising the place that she walked past had said it contained the grave of Lori Vaughan, now it contained a massive Barrier Array. Around it on the sides of the hill, 5 powerful portable generators were supplying it with power. The foundation for a sixth was still in the works while the un-deployed generator sat off to the side.

While she watched the workers building the foundation, she heard the loud sounds of machinery along with the creaking sounds of treads from behind one of the mausoleums. Stepping off of the cobblestone path, Joanne climbed up one of the smaller nearby hills to get a better look at the source of the noise.

Standing atop the hill, Joanne could see across the acres and acres of graveyard that was the Lori Vaughan Memorial Cemetery. She could see the source of the sounds, a massive multi story tracked vehicle. The vehicles was larger than her own house and she could see the tiny point defense guns on its sides and the barrier and shield arrays positioned around it, but most of its mass was a single giant cannon, it dominated the vehicle.

But more than that mobile Anti-Ship platform, Joanne could see the vastness of the military operation currently underway. As far as her eyes could see, she saw nothing but preparations for war, for death, for destruction. She saw tens of thousands of soldiers moving across the grassy hills, bunkers being built, trenches being dug, AA batteries and SAM sites, thousands of armored fighting vehicles, battalions of Mechanized combat forces, hundreds of stationary artillery guns, long range rocket launchers, drop-ships on landing pads, field hospitals, mess halls, barracks, sensor stations, backup generators, stocks of supplies, fuel trucks, piles ordinance. Every were she looked, she saw nothing but the preparations for a tragedy.

As the setting sun bathed the scene in an orange glow, Joanne Gordon had a moment of realization. She finally realized that she was not going to work like she would any other day, like she had only days ago. She would not be performing a job out here in this new place; she would be just a single part of a much larger machine, a cold and unfeeling entity that would clash against another like entity. She was not about to do great and valiant things, no such things would take place on these fields. She would fight and kill an enemy she knew nothing about, people she had never met. She would do this because she knew that if she didn't, they would do the same to her. She would not fight here for ideals or principals, not for honor or pride, not for the Allied States and her people, not even for the men and women fighting next to her; she would fight for herself, for her survival, she would fight and kill only to secure her next breath. War is not majestic, it is not to be sought after, it is to be avoided, to be feared. It is an atrocity, a blight upon civilization, the greatest evil.

As the sun sank deeper to towards the horizon, and the sky turned even deeper shades of red and orange, as the sun's rays glinted of the glass of nearby buildings, and as the entire scene was reflected off of the blue tropical waters of the harbor, Joanne thought of all the men and women out there. How many would die in the coming days? In the coming hours? How many had families that they wanted to see? Had jobs and careers to go back to? Had goals, hopes, and dreams? How many had futures? And how many would lose them? Loose what they found precious? How many would lose themselves to the coming calamity? As Corporal Joanne Gordon had these thoughts she began to cry, her tears marking their silent path down her cheeks and onto her uniform.

As her sobs overtook her, Joanne cried from fear and sorrow, she cried for all the men and women who would die, for their lost dreams and goals, for their lost futures, she cried for herself. Against the brilliant sight of the setting sun, awash in vibrant purples and magnificent reds and oranges, Joanne Gordon cried because it was the only thing she could do; a silent protest against the coming tragedy.

* * *

A little over 10 minutes later, after Joanne had calmed herself and regained her composure, and used a minor healing spell to removed the swelling and redness around her eyes, she continued her approach to the command post she was to report to. She was no longer inquisitive like she had been earlier, the festive attitude had left her, she solemnly marched forward without looking at her surroundings.

As she approached the main entrance to the mobile headquarters that commanded the entire island, four privates on guard duty crisply saluted her; she ignored them and walked past. She entered the building, and after spotting a secretary at an information desk, went over to report. The secretary, a Plertin, was using three of its tentacle arms to use a device interface, and his fourth was working on some repairs or modifications to a staff. As she stood in front of his desk, the Plertin stopped what he was doing and put down the staff, which he was clearly modifying, possibly illegally. Seeing Joanne eyeing the staff, the Plertin brought the subject up before Joanne could mention it.

"I am reducing its overall output and getting ready to link it to another staff. And I am aware that this is normally an illegal process, but under article 37 subsection 14 of the ASN regulations on magic based weapons to non-humans, Plertins are allowed to make these modifications."

Joanne responded curtly with a single word,

"Why?"

"You humans are awfully ethnocentric, you assume that if things work one way for you, they work that way for everyone else too. We Plertins can use each one of or arms independently, but we can only channel magic through one side. That means that when I try to use this staff in my upper right arm, and equal amount of magic comes out of the lower one, and is essentially wasted. We link two staffs together and use them at the same time to avoid the wasted mana."

"No, you misunderstood my question. Why are you doing the modification?"

"Oh, well this is just a basic staff, I can't afford my own personalized device, and I am not a high enough rank to be given one. So when I get deployed to a new spot, we usually are forced to return our current equipment and get new stuff at the new place, so my old staff pair is probably still on Corulus III, unless the TSAB did something with it when they invaded. But anyway, the upgrades are simple enough to do, but the calibration takes a really long time, and is specific to the user, so we are forced to do it ourselves. I really shouldn't be working on it while on duty, but the TSAB could be here any day and I need to get it finished before they arrive. At this rate I should get it done some time tomorrow morning."

Joanne was a little annoyed at how laid back he seemed. He could be dead at this time tomorrow, and he was joking about the coming battle. She didn't like his chatty happy go lucky attitude, and she didn't enjoy his remarks about humans, so she choose to ignore it.

She striated herself out and stood at attention.

"Corporal Joanne Gordon, reporting to Colonel Fursburg."

"Ah yes, ok then, let's see here."

The Plertin Chief Warrant Officer went back to the device interfaces and started bringing up files.

"Ok, well Colonel Fursburg is in charge of all forces on this island and the one to the west, and as such, he is way too busy to deal with all the newcomers. We having standing orders to direct all newcomers to one of the 1st lieutenants for a debriefing. Let me pull up your records and see which is your CO."

He continued manipulating the interfaces until he brought up her file. Joanne could see a picture of herself after she had finished her ranking examination.

"Hmm this can't be, it says your CO is Major Notoreal, but he is in command of the….. Oh wait; it says your part of the Striker Forces? Then it would make sense that he is your CO. Lucky you, he is kinda famous, being a Guardian Beast and using Belkan Strike Arts and all. Anyways, his office is through those doors and down the hall, past the staircase going down, second door on the right."

Despite her annoyance with the secretary, Joanne was still curious enough to ask.

"Guardian Beast? Strike Arts?"

"I guess most people don't know what those are, since Belkan magic is not used much anymore. Guardian Beasts are the Belkan versions of familiars, but they aren't bound to their creator. Supposedly Major Notoreal is over 300 years old and his creator has long since died. And Strike Arts are a Belkan style of martial arts based on hand to hand strikes. No grappling or anything like that. Almost no one uses it anymore; no one wants to get within punching distance of their enemies."

Joanne nodded her understanding and then left the secretary to his work and made her way to Major Notoreal's office. While the secretary was technically accurate in his directions, he had neglected a few important points, first that the staircase was located at almost the complete end of the hallway, and that it was an emergency staircase, one that was hidden behind a door. Eventually she found the staircase and then went into the second room on the right.

Joanne knocked and then opened the door and entered to find Major Notoreal having his lunch. The man's, or Guardian Beast's nature, was immediately obvious. His face was all angular and came to a point near his chin, his mouth was small and his lips were barely there. His eyes were perfectly circular and he seemed to have no eyelids, his entire body was long and lanky, but his arms seemed kind of short. But the most obvious signs of his less than normal nature were the sharp inch long talons coming from his thumb, index and middle fingers, and the feathers coming out of the back of his head.

As she walked up to his desk, the Major's head abruptly shot up. He stared at her so intently that for a moment she was caught off guard and just stood there. Now that he faced her she could see that he had an elaborate tattoo that ran from his forehead, down the sides of his face and down into his neck were they disappeared into his uniform.

In a deep rumbling voice, that didn't at all match his appearance, he asked a simple question.

"Who are you?"

Joanne was still out of her element, his appearance and movements had unnerved here, and his deep voice had only added to the effect.

"Um, Corporal Joanne Gordon, Sir, I, uh, was to report to Colonel Fursburg, but the secretary down the hall told me that I should, um, talk to you instead. He told me how to find you, sir."

"You are a Striker, Right?"

"Yes Sir"

"Ok, let me get your file."

The major stood up and took his lunch, which Joanne saw contained a simple sandwich and a side of pudding, and placed it off to the side on an end table. He then returned to his desk and brought up his devices display and navigated a few files for a second. Then without turning to look at her he addressed her again.

"Gordon, Joanne, Conscripted 83 hours ago, formerly a researcher at the Oridian Theoretical Field Labs in Golden Sun city. Ranked B+, but no real combat training, combat skills are rated at around B- to C+, No formal training, granted rank of corporal. Is this accurate?"

"Yes Sir"

"Alright, that's everything that your record says. Its less than thorough. Then what are your specialties?"

"Sir?"

"Strengths and weakness? Any unique skills? How do you plan on fighting here?"

Joanne was slightly unprepared for this line of questioning; she assumed that they would have already known that. She took a minute to organize her thoughts before responding.

"I specialized in theoretical and experimental Field research. In addition to most standard defensive and enhancing fields, I can also create a lot of non-standard fields that can-"

"Sorry to interrupt, but what is a 'Non-Standard' Field?"

"Um Non-standard fields are things that a normal mage would never learn. Primarily I can increase or decrease my resistance to specific types and wavelengths of energy. But other things are included, I can change the pigmentation of my skin, cause my body to become magnetic, increase or decrease my density, I can also shrink my body to about 1/3 of its original size."

Major Notoreal made some notes into the files before continuing his line of questioning.

"Those skills would be useful, but only in limited scenarios, but I assume you have a good grasp of the basics then. What about Barriers and Shields?"

"I can only make the most basic of shields; it was a skill that was completely un-necessary. Barriers I am much better with. I can make complete barriers of almost any shape that were ranked as B class. Just like with the fields, I can create Non-standard barriers."

More notes were added to her files.

"Ok, what about your attack abilities?"

"Beam attacks are the only thing I am good at, everything else was pretty bad, we never had to make any kind of attack magic back in the Research labs. My examiner told me that he thinks that since we always needed to control energy flow that I was naturally suited for beam attacks."

"Is there anything else you want to mention? Anything slightly more specific?"

"Um well it takes a lot of concentration so I can't do much of anything else, but I can place my fields on top of others."

The major looked up from the entry he was currently typing.

"You're an Enhancer?"

"A what?"

"Enhancers are mages that focus on support, but mostly on increasing their teammate's strength."

"Um then I guess that that would be me."

The Major went back to his displays and started going through data, he brought up a second display and looked over that before bringing up two more.

"This complicates things."

"Sir?"

"Well I was going to send you to point D, Captain Disanto has been asking for Striker support for a few days now. But if you're an enhancer we would be better served having you with other strikers. I have a squad of nine Strikers guarding the Barrier Array at point A, if I placed you there that would be the best, but then I won't have anything for Captain Disanto.

He looked through some reports for a second, before closing the entire display.

"I am sending you to point D for now, once I find someone better to replace you there, I will transfer you to point A, but that might take a little while to work out."

"Um sir, where is point D?"

"Ah yes, let me upload a map into your device, that will show you everything you need to know."

The bracelet on his left arm glowed a dark brown color, and a second later, the hairclip in Joanne's hair started to glow a light teal. As the glow died down, Major Notoreal stood up and went back over to the end table and retrieved his lunch.

"Well that will be all, Your Dismissed, Go get to Point D."

"Yes Sir"

* * *

Now finished, Joanne backed up and exited the Major's office, walked back down the hallway and past the Plertin secretary and left the building. Once she got outside she called up the tactical map that the Major had given her.

As the map activated, it called up a holographic display that showed the entire city, no it showed even more than that. Each island on the river delta was shown down to the smallest details, zooming in allowed her to see street signs, lamp posts, and even small advertisements. The surrounding riverbeds and ports were also shown. Even the suburbs and the fields that stretched for miles were shown in the same detail.

Joanne was completely unable to make sense of anything on a map of this scale, so she told her device to limit the area shown to only the island that contained the Lori Vaughan Memorial Cemetery. The map zoomed in and then began rendering itself in even greater detail. Now that it was focused on a specific point it was able to show the locations of machinery and people. She spotted the gate that she had entered, it was labeled as Defensive point H, defensive point D was further to the north and was right in front of one of the bridges that led to the riverside and then the suburbs. After following the path from Point D back to the command center a few times, Joanne was confident that she knew the way, and started off towards Point D.

A few minutes later, and with only needing to double check the map twice, Joanne finally arrived at secondary command center of point D, the former ground keeper's house. Unlike the main head quarters, this secondary one was slightly less established and a lot more frantic. People were running in and out of the building every few seconds, equipment was being brought in, and on the front porch, a small scale backup barrier array was being set up.

Joanne entered the building and began searching for Captain Disanto. Twice she was almost plowed over by other soldiers running errands. Everyone was so busy that she didn't even attempt to ask for help. Eventually she stumbled upon an older man who wore the insignia of captain.

The man in question stood in the back of what was once the living room, staring out the bay window towards the harbor. He just calmly stood there with his hands gently planted on the windowsill. He was about a half foot shorter than Joanne, and she was only average height, he was almost completely bald, and a quick glance at his arms reveled that they were both cybernetic replacements. As if he sense her presence behind him, he turned to face Joanne. After he lightly turned, he looked her up and down and then broke the silence.

"Who in da blazes are you?"

Joanne made herself a mental note; People who make the military into a career have unique personalities.

"Corporal Joanne Gordon, Reporting to captain Disanto, as ordered by Major Notoreal, Sir"

"The Eagle Man sent ya? Ya a Striker then?"

"Yes Sir"

"Good, dat's great. I was thinkin he might not come through fo me; still, he was pushin it awfully tight. So then-"

He was momentarily drowned out by a loud high-pitched whirling sound, one that Joanne recognized as the sound of a short range drop ship.

"Hold dat thought a sec."

Three Basalt Class short ranged dropships flew over the house; their engines rattled the windows and knocked stuff from the tables. The hovered over the garden in the front of the house for a second before opening their cargo hatches. The lead dropship released a short ranged heavy rocket launcher, while the other two each dropped three light towed railguns. After they had discharged their cargo, the dropships regained some altitude and flew back over the house, again knocking stuff around. After the whine from the dropship's engines had faded, some soldiers swarmed around the guns and rocket launcher and began moving them into position.

"Dat's great, I finally got da rest of dem guns. With you guys here all I am waitin on is dat armor, and some mech infantry. I really wanted an Ace or two, but a squad of Strikers will gotta do. So how many of ya are in da squad?"

"Um how many sir?"

"A full squad would be da best, but I would settle fo a half squad."

"Uhh, Sir, The Major only sent one person."

"One person? Like, only ya?"

"Yes Sir, The Major only sent me, but, he is planning on transferring me to point A within a day and is going to get you a replacement. He said I wouldn't be as useful here."

"Why in da blazes wouldn't ya be? Ya an idiot or something?"

"No sir, Major Notoreal says that since I am an Enhancer, that I wouldn't be of much use here, he wants me with other Strikers."

"Ha, an Enhancer, dat's rich. Tell me Corporal, What's out dat window?"

He gestured out the window he had been staring at before Joanne had arrived. She gazed out the window and found the view breathtaking. The sun was still setting but the radiant glowing orb was clearly reflected off of the blue waters. Across the river the sun glinted off the windows on the buildings, the entire scene sparkled in the red glow of the sunset.

"A Sunset?"

The captain just stared at her.

"I mean the harbor."

This time he sighed heavily.

"Are ya sho ya not an idiot?"

As he finished calling her an idiot again, he pointed out the window.

"I meant Dat."

Joanne looked to see what he was pointing at, but he was waving his hand around so she wasn't completely sure, but it looked like he was pointing at the buildings on the other side of the river.

"The river front?"

He sighed again, and then turned away from her and walked over to the window and planted his hands back on the windowsill.

"Dat's called, 'No Man's Land,' ya know why it's called dat? Its cause its No. Man's. Land. See, dem TSAB bastards are gonna use them buildings as cover and land their ships all da way over in da fields and da burbs. Once they get here, they gonna hafta cross dat, and we got almost no men in there, so we gonna meet them here on da banks and attack them as they come out. Ya understand?"

Yes Sir."

"No, ya don't. Ya don't get it at all. Dat bridge over there, dat's like da front door, da entire TSAB is gonna be comin across dat bridge and knockin on da door. This here is gonna be where most of da fighting goes down, so I need everything I can get to stop them from breakin down da door. Dat's why I was askin for some Aces, or a Squad of you Strikers. Now do ya understand?"

"Sir, Yes Sir."

"Now then, ya see my problem? I asked for Aces and I get a single Striker, I ask fo 30 Medium railguns, they gave me 20 Light railguns and a short range heavy rocket launcher. I ask for 10 pieces of armor, I got none so far, I ask for 400 pieces of mech infantry, they sent me 50. I aint vain, I know dat this is just one of many points that could get attacked, even on this island, but what they gave me, it aint enough."

He turned away from the window and walked up to Joanne.

"But, there aint nothing I can do about dat, so let's figure out what to do with ya."

The Captain walked over to a display and started pulling up some information, but this time Joanne was the first to speak.

"By sir, Major Notoreal said he was going to transfer me within a day. Rather than involve me in a formation and then take me out, wouldn't it be easier to just keep me on standby?"

Captain Disanto stopped what he was doing, and sat down on a nearby sofa.

"Easier? Yeah it would. But a half assed approach like that is what gets peopled killed. What if Notoreal doesn't find a replacement before the TSAB arrives? Or if he doesn't find one at all?"

"Well Command said that they expect the TSAB to make orbit tomorrow in the afternoon…"

"Yah, and Command said that they would get me the forces I asked fo, they sent me you instead. They also said that the TSAB would never make it past the Jinx Cluster; that went down 5 weeks ago, and now we got only a fraction of our territory left. I'll shift formations every hour if I hafta, now ya an Enhancer? Not a lot I can do with that, but I can figure out something."

He stood back up and walked over to the console he was at.

"Where were ya trained at anyways?"

"I learned basically everything I know at the Oridian Theoretical Field Labs back in Golden Sun City, it's in the Northern Hemisphere."

The Captain abruptly stopped what he was doing.

"Hold on just a sec. Ya were trained in a Lab? Why?"

Joanne shifted nervously, she wasn't sure exactly where this was going, but she sensed it was going to end poorly.

"I wasn't trained in the Labs, it's just where I learned everything."

"So where were ya trained? Ya know, basic training and such?"

"I was only recruited 3 days ago, they sent me strait here."

The captain stepped back from the console, placed his hands on his head, took a deep breath, and then yelled.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

Having not expected that particular response, Joanne stepped back from the angry officer.

"I handled it when they refused to give me field guns, I accepted that I couldn't get no dropships, I said NOTHING when I got only 50 out of the 400 mech infantry I asked fo, I let it slide when they delivered Light Railguns, I haven't mentioned the missing armor, but this is da last straw."

As he started yelling every one stopped what they were doing and slowly backed away. One of the lower ranked privates had the misfortune to bump into a table and knock a datapad to the ground. As the plastic screen clattered to the ground, the captain's eyes zeroed in on him.

"You, Private, Get Major Notoreal on da line, tell him it's an emergency, I wanna talk to em right now, right this second."

As the private in question started frantically trying to get through to the secretarial department at the main headquarters, Captain Disanto continued his rant.

"This, This is crap. First da fleet flees with its tail between its legs, but not before it scoops up every decent fighting force we have. No Assault tanks, why would we need them? They are only the STRONGEST piece of armor in da Allied States. All of da Aces are gone, almost all of da Strikers too. They took all of da large scale field artillery, but left us with these archaic mobile anti-ship platforms, ONLY because they took up too much space. PRIVATE, I am still waitin on this call, when's it gonna happin? Probably da same time I get da supplies I requested. I wanna know who is running this operation, who make these calls? I think command is runnin around in circles, sniffin each other's asses. In fact, who is running this entire war now? It certainly aint the Fleet Admirals. I served under Siato, that man was on top of things. No way that he'd a let things go like this, we lost over 90% of our territory and they still fallin back. Any old idiot can tell ya that this plan aint gonna work out for ya, someone needs to go tell them fools at Fleet Command that they're idiots. PRIVATE, call Fleet command and tell them they fools, and WHY AINT I TALKEN TO THAT EAGALE IDIOT? "

"Ummm, sir, the line is, um Major Notoreal is, umm-"

"Captain Disanto, I will pass on your message to fleet command, now what did you need of me?"

Behind the captain, on one of the displays he had left open, was the image of Major Notoreal, his face was expressionless. The room became deathly silent and all eyes were on the captain and the display. Captain Disanto first shot a death glare at the private, and then turned to the console, resized it to something smaller and then began his conversation without delay.

"Ah Major, sorry bout that little outburst there, ya just happened to be da last in a long string of people faillin me."

"This is in regards to the Striker I sent you then?"

"Yah, see I asked fo a squad, and unless the changed it up, a squad still has bout ten people in it, not one, which is what ya sent me."

"Yes I am aware that you requested a squad, however, I don't have that many to give you. You will have to make do with the one I managed to send."

"So ya sent me one, that's da best ya can do then? Ya take me fo a fool then? Let me tell ya, I do not have enough strength here to defend this position, if dem TSAB bastards hit me in force, my lines will break."

"I am also aware of that fact; we don't have enough forces to secure all of these islands completely. We have other teams on standby near the defensive points that can assist during an attack."

"Yah, and what if they don't make it in time? What if two points get hit at once? What if you guys have your head's to far up your ass to see what's going on?"

"Then you will defend that position to the best of your ability until support arrives, that's all there is to it. Captain, all I control are the deployment of strikers on these two islands, I can't do anything else for you. I sent you a Striker, the only one I had, that will have to do for now."

"Yah that's right, ya sent me an Enhancer. What am I gonna do with that? And she aint even been to basic trainin."

"As I told her, and I am sure she relayed to you, I will be transferring her out and sending you a more combat oriented replacement within a day."

" What if that don't happin? What if da TSAB gets her first?"

"Well that's highly-"

At that point the display went to static.

"Oh! Did he just disconnect on me?"

The private who had originally opened the line was still hiding in the corner of the room, but as it was his responsibility, he still spoke up.

"Um, no sir, the entire line went dead. I lost contact with Headquarters. And, I uh, can't re-establish the connection."

"Well some one betta tell me what's goin on here, we lose a relay station or somethin?"

Right as he finished speaking, a Chaaral with the rank of Sergeant came running into the room, Since he voice was too high pitched to be heard by most humanoids, he instead spoke through the mechanical voice of his device.

"SIR. ALL COMMUNICATIONS ARE DOWN. WE LOST THE CONNECTION WITH COMMAND. EVEN THE TACTICAL COMPUTERS CAN'T CONNECT TO THE SERVERS."

Captain Disanto walked over to the window and peered out at all of the soldiers frantically trying to reestablish communications. With his back still turned to his audience he began to laugh for a second, the harsh chuckle grated on Joanne's nerves.

"Har, har, woo that was a good laugh. Anyways, it seems like da TSAB got here ahead of schedule. "

He turned away from the window and began walking towards the door to the hallway, the assembled soldiers and engineers parted so he could pass.

"Now hopefully that orbital defense net will hold them long enough for command to figure out what's goin on, before they do something fun. The rest of ya, I want ya to your positions, everyone who isn't actively using a piece of equipment, I want you to help da engineers finish their preparations. Since we got no communications, I will move my HQ to da front porch. Everyone get movin."

After he finished speaking, the assembled soldiers ran out of the building and began doing their jobs. Some of them started powering up the Railguns, while others started getting into the bunkers and trenches that had been dug. Some went over and helped set up the portable generators and the barrier generators.

"Oh and one more thing, take that Sand Class light dropship and get a spotter team on one of those buildings, take some signal flares and an AA gun."

The private from before, looking utterly horrified, was once again forced to speak up.

"Um, but sir, those buildings have civilians in them. We're not supposed to deploy forces in those areas."

"Ah it's just a scouting team, no harm. Da AA gun is only for their defense. Dem buildings block our sight, and without no sensors we won't be able to tell what's goin on, so GET TO IT!"

The private, now completely terrified, scurry and ran from the room to follow his orders.

"And ya, da Striker, There is a hill to the side of da bridge, its gotta bench on it, I want you to stay there. It gives a good look across da river and keeps ya near da bridge."

And with that, Captain Disanto walked down the stairs and into the main foyer. From a floor above, Joanne could still hear him yelling orders.

* * *

Joanne made her way to the back of the room that they were in, through a door that led to the second floor veranda. She walked along the side of the house and then slowly descended the stairs. She spotted the hill that the Captain had mentioned and began moving towards it. Her head was mostly blank, she was walking in a daze, but in the deepest parts of her mind, a thought process was happening, one that she was desperately trying to avoid.

If the communication errors were really due to the TSAB's scrambling fields, than that meant that they were already in orbit. The defense net wouldn't hold them for long, soon they will make planet fall. Soon they will march through the fields and suburbs, soon they will make it to the city's outskirts and soon they will be at the bridge. Soon the fighting would break out, soon the battle would begin, soon Joanne would be forced to fight, all too soon. She thought, that after she had looked out over that hill, that she had resolved herself, had steeled herself. But she hadn't, she had no confidence. She was frightened. She wanted to flee, she didn't want to fight here, she wanted to be back in her research lab, sitting in the lounge while sipping a cappuccino with her colleagues while discussing the latest theories.

As she slowly plodded up to that hill with the bench, she knew that she still had options. She could flee back into the island, she could try to mix in with the civilians, she could jump into the waters, she could sprint across that bridge, she could hide, she could run, she could even turn herself over to the TSAB when they land. But while each step brought her closer to that dreaded hill, it also closed off her options.

She wasn't ready for this, she was unprepared. She needed to stop and think, to find a way out, but even though she knew this, she kept walking. She was losing time, she had to figure it out now, but she didn't know what to do.

As she rested her shaking hands across the back of the bench, she knew that she had run out of time, she could no longer flee. She would see this through to the end, but that thought brought no comfort to her.

Joanne was in the middle of trying to calm herself, again, when something strange happened. As far as the eye could see, for one split second, everything froze. The world was tinted a dark shade of gray, but it didn't interfere with vision. The hair on her arms stood on end and her skin crawled. He body became hot, so hot that she thought she was on fire, but she started to shiver, she couldn't hear, but she sensed a dull throb in the air around her. Then before she had even fully noticed that it had happened, the effect ended and she crumpled to the floor.

Joanne crawled over to the bench and tried to drag herself up to it, but her breath was ragged, her head throbbed, and she couldn't stop shaking, she felt like she had been electrocuted. She finally pulled herself up onto the bench and was able to look around, but every where she looked she saw people who looked the same as she felt. As the feeling slowly began to fade, somewhere from behind her a loudspeaker kicked on, and through it Captain Disanto's voice could be heard.

"OK BOYS AND GIRLS, DAT THERE WAS A HIGH INTENSITY SCAN, A REALLY HIGH ONE. AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, THEY HIT DA ENTIRE CITY, BURBS AND ALL, THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHERE EVERYTHING IS, SO THEY ARE GONNA BE COMMIN FOR US SOON, BEFORE WE CAN GET A CHANCE TO MOVE THINGS AROUND. SO GET TO YA POSITIONS ANG BE READY, ITS GONNA BE A LONG NIGHT."

As the echo of Captain Disanto's voice faded, Joanne realized she was able to stand, so she did. Once she was up she saw that almost everyone else was over the effects of the scan and were going about their tasks. Some were still setting up equipment and some were getting into trenches, but most of them, knowing that the TSAB wasn't here yet, just stood and watched. A group of 6 of them climbed up Joanne's hill to get a better look. As they walked up, Joanne could here parts of their conversation.

"That was some scan, huh?"

"Yeah man, I thought I was dying there. You know how they always say that repeated exposure to scanning magic can be harmful? I think we just proved that."

"Yeah man, I hope I can still have kids after this."

"I didn't know you could in the first place."

"Plus, he'd need to find a woman first, and that's not gonna happen."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Look dude, women go for one of three things, good looks, money, and personality, and that last one hasn't been proven. You got less money than I do, I have seen street signs with more personality than you, and let's not even mention your looks."

"Harsh"

"I think it's funny that he wasn't concerned about my statement."

"You know what, I aint going to let you borrow that movie now."

"Alrighty fine, my bad. You have more personality that a street sign, you happy?"

"yes, I mean no! you're not getting the movie."

"Fine, be that way."

"Oh hey, what's that over there on that building?"

"Hmmm? Which one, the one with the tower on the top?"

"No, the one to the left, it's a little smaller."

"Um the one with the water tank?"

"Yeah that's the one"

"Looks like a cannon maybe."

"I don't see anything."

"Probably a SAM site."

"Which building are we looking at?"

"You five are morons, it's a dropship, looks like Sand Class."

"You would know that."

"Yeah being obsessed with things that fly, like my 3 year old brother."

"I'm not obsessed, I am an engineer, it's my job."

"Whatever dude."

"Yo I got a question for you, when you're eating, does your momma make the airplane sound as she feeds you?"

They all laughed while the engineer just grumbled to himself.

Although Joanne didn't particularly want their company, she had to admit that their frivolous attitude was calming her nerves, she almost joined in on their laughter there. But, while it was true that they were calming her, that was only taking the top off of a mountain. She was wound so tight that she was afraid she might burst, she could barely even focus on their conversation.

"So….you guys think they'll hit here?"

"Not a chance, you see all those railguns the captain got?"

"Yeah, but those are only light railguns, I bet a Striker could block them with a shield"

Although Joanne wasn't a trained Striker, she knew that she wouldn't be able to block that.

"True, but a striker could just as easily dodge the stronger medium railguns"

She was also pretty sure that she couldn't dodge them either.

"Also, the mediums may have a range advantage, but they have a much slower rate of fire."

"Plus, they got the bridge rigged to explode, if the enemy gets enough armor and starts getting across, then BOOM, the bridge goes down."

"You know, I heard that they did that with the islands too."

"What?"

"Did what with the islands?"

"Who'd you here that from?"

"No wait, I heard that rumor too."

"What Rumor?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, if an island gets attacked and starts getting taken over, they can blow up the foundation and sink the island."

"What the hell, Really?"

"It makes sense, and it's a good idea."

"What if we are still on it?"

"Well I guess you would swim to another island."

"Yeah…. I don't think I like this idea."

"Aw man I can't swim, this sucks."

"I'm sure you probably won't drown, maybe."

"Hey guys, over there, are those dropships?"

Joanne followed the man's gaze and off into the distance, behind all of the buildings, she could sort of make out some objects that might have been drop ships. Joanne activated a eyesight enhancing field on herself and sure enough, the objects appeared to be dropships. She counted over 40 of them, but even with her enhancement, at this distance it was too hard to tell. But, they were approaching the islands at a high rate of speed.

"I can't tell, they might be birds or something."

"I don't see anything."

"What are you people looking at"

"Yo, lend me your binoculars."

One of the men started rummaging through his pack looking for the binoculars.

"Why would they be sending in dropships? That doesn't make sense."

"Yeah they would have to land some of their fleet to disembark enough forces to do anything."

"Maybe they are scouts? You know, they make sure that the landing site isn't an ambush."

"I still don't see anything."

"Yeah, seriously, how about you guys give us some direction?"

"You two suck, See that building over there, the circular one? Look a little to the right and then strait up."

"Not seeing anything."

"Dude, that buildings a cylinder, not a circle."

"Oh, now I see it."

"Me too, yeah those look like drop ships."

"You're an idiot."

"Shut up man, geometry wasn't my strong point"

"Man, my brother knows the difference between a circle and a cylinder, and he's three."

"You got a brother complex dude."

"You got a problem with my brother?"

"No, you're just way more into him than you should be."

"Alrighty you two, let's stop this before I get to haul one of you to the medical tents, for the 4th time, this week."

"Oh sweet, found the binoculars."

"Cool let me take a look."

"Get your own, I got first look."

"Whatever."

With his binoculars in hand the man now turned and looked towards the dropships, he made a humming sound and then handed them off to the engineer.

"Well they are dropships, that's for sure."

"So it's really a scouting team then?"

"Probably, Don't know what else they would be doing with them."

"What do you think mister flying thing fanatic?"

"Well they are definitely dropships, they couldn't be anything else, but I've never seen a dropship like them before."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well they are shaped oddly and they have only minimal maneuvering thrusters, they wouldn't be able to navigate anything but an open space. Also they have weird main engines, it looks like they are moving at top speed right now but an engine of that size would burn itself out if it kept this up."

"Maybe the TSAB got some new toys since they were seen last."

"Yeah, maybe they made an advancement in propulsion techniques."

"Or fuel."

"That's true, they could have a really high energy fuel source."

"It's still weird, those dropships have no windows or hatches that I can see, the entire thing is covered in armor. But it's all on the nose, like they expect to only be shot from the front side, that makes no sense."

"Hey I got a question."

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Well these drops ships are moving real fast, right?"

"Yeah"

"Ok and they don't have good maneuverability right?"

"From the looks of it, yeah."

"So then why are they coming right at us?"

After the man finished speaking, his five friends all turned to look at the rapidly approaching dropships, Joanne followed suit. He was right, these dropships were heading straight towards them. If his friend, the engineer, really knew what he was talking about and these dropships had awful maneuverability, then at this point they might not be able to turn away.

"So why do you think they are coming right at us?"

"Oh I know, maybe they are strike craft, you know, bombers. That would make sense wouldn't it?"

"I don't think our air defenses are weak enough that these guys would be able to get deep enough to hit anything important."

"Well, what do you think?"

They all turned to face the engineer, but he was still looking through the binoculars.

"They could be, I guess, but they don't look it. Bombers need some mobility and they don't have that, also I don't see any weapons or hatches that they could be hiding in. they look more like dropships, but they are still, well, weird. They are abnormally rounded, the bottom is usually flat to help it land."

"Oooo, you know what they remind me of?"

"Your momma?"

"Screw you."

"Ha-ha, alright, my bad, what do they remind you off?"

"Bastard. Anyway, you see them all the time on TV, aw man, what are they called again?"

"How would I know?"

"Yeah dude, that description was sorta lacking."

"Come on, they use them all the time in war movies, but no one uses them in the real world."

"Oh that helps."

"Shut up. They use them to ram capital ships, then the boarding party comes out and tries to take the ship over."

"Oh I know what you're talking about. Yeah your right, they are used in TV allot. No idea what they are called tho."

"They aren't a specific ship. They are usually a heavily armored dropship that carriers a striker force to destroy the enemy from the inside…"

"You don't think that that's what those are, do you?"

"If those are filled with striker squadrons that would be really bad."

"I think one of us needs to go report this to the command center."

Just then a large flare shot up from the command center, it alternated between flashing blue and yellow, Joanne had no idea what that meant.

"Well command obviously knows that they are dropships and coming towards us, but I think we need to mention that it might be a Striker Force."

The engineer with the binoculars suddenly leaned forward in an effort to get a better view, before cursing loudly.

"Aw shit, they just tapped their afterburners for a second."

"And that means?"

"They injected some extra fuel into the engines for a burst of speed. It burns through fuel crazy fast but if you just tap it you can get a speed boost without losing too much."

Behind them, again from the command center, a bright red flare shot up into the sky.

"That's the signal to attack"

After the flare reached its max height the loudspeaker went on again. Captain Disanto's voice rang out over the fields of the Lori Vaughan Memorial Cemetery.

"WE HAVE SOME TSAB DROPSHIPS ON FAST APPROACH COMING IN FROM DA EAST. THEY ARE PROBABLY FULL OF ELITE SHOCK TROOPERS OR EVEN STRIKERS AIMING TO DEAL SOME CRITICAL DAMAGE, BUT THEY AINT GONNA GET A CHANCE TO TRY, THEY AINT GONNA LAND ON ANY OF THESE ISLANDS, SHOOT THEM DOWN!"

All around Joanne, soldiers began running to the AA batteries and SAM sites and began bringing them online. But they were halted by Captain Disanto's voice.

"DO NOT FIRE ANY SURFACE TO AIR MISSILES, DA SCRAMBLING FIELD PREVENTS A TARGETING LOCK AT ANYTHING OTHER THAN POINT BLANK. WHEN THEY GET CLOSE USE HEAT SEEKING MISSILES."

"Oh look the dropships are splitting up."

Joanne pulled her eyes away from the preparations to attack and noticed that the dropships were in fact splitting up. Some of them were going to fly overhead while others headed towards the other islands, but three of them started to descend towards the cemetery's island.

"I wonder how many we will shoot down."

"Well unless they fly right over an AA gun they will be really hard to hit at that speed, but once they get to their targets they will slow down and that's when we will take them down."

"Oh check it out, one of them is gonna buzz past that building that had that scout dropship on it."

"I wonder if they have an AA gun."

"It would be cool if the first one down gets shot by someone from our regiment."

Joanne already knew that that dropship's crew was caring a heavy AA turret. Once that enemy dropship gets close it would defiantly go down. According to Joanne's analyst, that dropship would pass over the building in about ten seconds. She waited in silence, quieted by her own anticipation, if this went well she knew that she would draw confidence from it, but they would only have enough time to get of about 5 shots before it passed over their heads.. To her side the group of friends also stood silently and motionlessly.

About nine seconds later the group on the building opened fire, a light teal beam sliced out and ground into the armor on the underbelly of the dropship. A second beam cut into its nose while a third and fourth missed. The damage caused it to drop slightly and it was now on a collision course with the crew on the building, it was now do or die for them.

Finally the fifth beam lanced out strait into the dropship's starboard wing, sheering it off at the base. Now devoid of a wing, and with no stability, the dropship veered to its right and grazed the surface of the building, it shattered windows and tore apart the face of the building. Seeing it going down, a cheer rose up from the onlookers.

"WOOOOOOT!"

"EAT THAT"

"YEAH!"

"TEACH YOU TO INVADE THIS PLANET"

"THE FIRST OF MANY"

"HAHAHA DID YOU SEE THAT?"

While the assembled soldiers cheered its death, the dropship was not finished its crash. After it slid off of that building, it slammed into the roof of the building behind it. It bounced off after crushing a landing pad and then slammed into the corner of a third building.

"DAMN GOOD KILL"

"LOOK AT THAT"

"GIVE THOSE GUYS AN AWARD"

"NO WAY ANYONE SURVIVED THAT."

"THEY GOT THE FIRST KILL"

At that point, right as the last pieces of rubble were falling from the building, the smoldering crushed hulk of the dropship suddenly exploded. At its current distance, the red and orange flash was barely visible, but to Joanne, and any other mages, the small explosion was clear as day. The little red ball of fire shot out of the building, almost as if it were giant flare. Right as the explosion was exiting the crater, the building was wracked with its shockwave. The entire building shuddered, every window simultaneously exploded, massive cracks could be seen forming on the sides and foundation. Joanne wasn't an expert in this field, but it seemed unusually that an exploding dropship would cause that level of damage.

But Joanne was only able to explore that train of thought for a single moment, because as she watched the building begin to crumble and collapse due to the damage, her eyes lost track of the building. One second she could see the building, she could see the falling glass, the smoke, and even the slight distortion caused by the shockwave, and then all of a sudden, the entire scene was obscured by a blinding white light. Originating from crash site, the white sphere rapidly expanded, it covered the entire building along with some of the adjacent ones, and parts of the others. Then, before she could even blink, the brilliant ball of light disappeared, it just winked out of existence. Not even a second has passed since it had first appeared, and it was already gone, but it had left its mark, everything that it covered was also gone.

For one split second, even while she was seeing spots, Joanne was able to see the sight of the destruction. The white sphere, and everything it had covered, was gone, just removed from existence. Almost everything around the impact point was gone, some of the taller buildings were not completely enveloped, he upper floors of those buildings still sat motionless in mid air. Other buildings had had their sides gouged out, the cuts were perfectly smooth, as if a giant being had just reached down and scooped everything out of that space.

And then time continued to flow and gravity reasserted itself, the pieces of building that were left in the air plummeted to the ground while the other buildings began to tip over and collapse. Joanne watched as the building with the scouting team on it, now with almost half of its mass missing, began to sway and then crumble. The roof with the dropship tipped forward and then slid down the collapsing building before it was hidden by the dust and ruble of the destroyed buildings.

Over the distant rumbled of the collapsing building every one stood in a dumbfounded silence. After a moment someone spoke.

"Oh my god, wh-what was that?

"Th-those aren't dropships, they're missiles!"

"No that was a torpedo."

"They're launching torpedoes at us?"

"They can't do that."

"That's a war crime."

Joanne thought back to her conversation with the captain during the briefing. He had been so certain that an orbital bombardment was impossible, that there was no way that the TSAB would even think of it, but Joanne hadn't bought that. The TSAB had reappeared after 21 years, in that time there had been no contact with them, everyone had thought that they had destroyed themselves, fallen into a dimensional rift, gone the way of Al Hazard. And when they came back, they had immediately attacked every one. They lured people to their borders with a signal and then slaughtered the people gathered, even the civilians and media. The TSAB had made it obvious that they were not bound by the inter-dimensional laws that everyone else was. Assuming that they would abide by any form of warfare summit was completely foolish, but the Allied States had made that assumption, and it now appeared that Joanne and everyone else on Oridian would now have to deal with the consequences off that assumption.

Joanne suspected that every other ground battle had probably gone the same way, the defenders annihilated from orbit, killed without ever seeing the invaders. The TSAB's Scrambling Field would block all off-planet transmissions, there would be no way to inform the rest of the Allied States that all future invasions would end the same way, the ASN would be doomed to repeat this slaughter based on their flawed assumption.

And a slaughter it would be. That torpedo, which Joanne recognized from her work in the Research Labs, was a Clarity Torpedo, probably a light one, and assuming the others were the same type, the remaining thirty nine torpedoes would devastate the city. As far as anyone could tell, the TSAB's Clarity Torpedoes caused absolute destruction in a localized area, everything that was caught in the blast radius was destroyed without a trace, but outside of it, there was no real damage. But there was also no real defense against them, armor, shields, barriers, and defensive fields were completely useless, the only thing that could be done, was to avoid them. Joanne could tell, based off of the size of that first explosion, that the others would not completely destroy the city, but if they were targeted at key locations, say the command centers, generators, and barrier and shield arrays, they could cripple the city, when they did send their ground forces down, New Joy Harbors would not survive.

But any effort to deal with the approaching torpedoes wouldn't make it in time, they had just cleared the opposite water front and dropped low towards the surface of the water. Behind her, every command center, both on this island and the others, were frantically launching up red flares. Just as the torpedoes leveled out a few meters above the water, they hit their afterburners to full. Their sudden burst of speed created an explosion of water as they lurched towards the opposing bank.

As the torpedoes raced forward and cut trails into the water, the defenders got over their shock and a hail of AA fire arched out towards the incoming torpedoes. Hundreds of thousands of magical energy attacks tore through the air, the sky was alight with bolts of every color and hue imaginable. Mixed in with the energy attacks were mass based cannon slugs and missiles. The shockwaves left by the cannons, and the smoke trails from the missiles all combined into a scene that any other day would have been one of the most majestic and beautiful sights Joanne had ever seen, but today, right now, it meant nothing to her.

Even as the wall of AA fire hit the approaching torpedoes, even as one of them was blasted apart in midair and detonated, or another went down in the water, Joanne, and everyone else, could tell that it was too little too late.

One last torpedo went down into one of the connecting bridges, the bridge and part of the embankment were gone in a white flash, and then they were over the defensive perimeter. Joanne saw another torpedo get shot down and slam into some buildings on another island, but that was the least of her worries, four of the torpedoes were going heading towards the Lori Vaughan Memorial Cemetery, and one of them was heading straight towards her.

Everyone reacted differently to the impending demise, some of the soldiers frantically continued firing, even the ground forces attacked with their staffs, others turned and ran, some just cowered and hid, while others froze up and just stood there and watched. Joanne was of the latter.

So Joanne was still standing there, upright, when the torpedo, which was much larger than she had originally thought, passed right over her head. As the torpedo sailed harmlessly overhead, Joanne was greeted with a gentle breeze, and an overwhelming sense of relief. For a split second, Joanne experienced what is called an AIRF, or Autonomous Instant Reflex Field, or in laymen's terms, a moment of perfect clarity. The world seemed to move in slow motion, she could see the minute details of everything around her. She could see the torpedo, every section, every armor plate, every seam, ever bolt, she could see the air being pushed out of its way. The tree that she had been standing next to was now down by her feet, but she could still see it in the same detail as the torpedo, she saw were its branches were snapping and cracking, she saw the leaves being torn off, and she saw were the engine exhaust was beginning to ignite the drier branches.

It was only after the torpedo had left her field of view, and the tree had fallen below her, when all she could see was the sky as it turned from day into night, that Joanne realized she was falling, and that that gentle breeze she had felt was much more than just a breeze, that when the torpedo has flown over her she had been caught in its tailwind, it had literally lifted her off her feet and threw her backwards.

Her moment of AIRF ended when her calves hit the back of the bench and she tumbled backwards. She landed on the grass hill shoulders first and then rolled down until the ground leveled out at the bottom. She ended up sprawled out on her back at the bottom of the hill, covered in bruises and cuts, and gasping for air.

Joanne was a multi-tasker, as a researcher it was a vital skill, to be able to follow multiple things at once, to deal with the unexpected setbacks while still moving forward with the main project. So while she was currently on her back and sort of upside down in what appeared to be a flowerbed, Joanne was able to do a few things at once. First she was trying to regain her breath, as she had fallen, at some point she had bounced into something that had knocked the wind out of her. Second, she was performing a thorough and systematic check of her body, she could see and hear, both legs and arms were working, a scan showed that there were no internal injuries and that her Linker Core was fine. She did appear to have some minor burns on her face, and some of her hair had been scorched, but other than that she seemed to be fine.

And thirdly, she watched as the big white glowing sphere in the center of the island winked out of existence. Her sense of direction had never been that great, and she was more than a little out of it after having fallen down a cliff, but she was pretty sure that that torpedo had detonated near the island's headquarters. It was either aimed at that, or at that large scale barrier array that was nearby.

Of in the distance, Joanne could see more AA fire and then a few more giant white flashes. As the last of them died down, the AA fire slowed and then abruptly came to a stop, for a few seconds, while Joanne was still on her back, the only sounds that could be heard was the distant rumbling of collapsing buildings, and the sound of the waves as they broke across the island's foundation.

On the other islands, both the military, and any civilians that were there, were frantically trying to dig through the rumble to save any survivors, but here in the "Lori Vaughan Memorial Cemetery," no such rescue effort was underway. The cemetery contained only a few buildings, the largest of which was the three story command center, which may or may not exist any longer. The ASN was not completely sure how the TSAB's new Clarity Torpedoes worked, but all of their records and all evidence pointed to one fact, that nothing could survive within the blast radius. Whatever was caught there, was now gone, where people and buildings stood, there would now be nothing, there would be no one to rescue.

As Joanne went about standing up, she heard the loudspeaker come online again, it sounded like the voice of Captain Disanto, but it was horribly distorted and slurred, probably due to damage to the communication lines, or an effect of the scrambling field.

But as Joanne managed to partially stand, she was overcome by a wave of nausea and dizziness and fell to her knees. The captain's voice became even more distant as the world began to shake before her eyes and she began to lose consciousness. As the world faded to black around her, Joanne did the only thing she could do, she called on her device and activated her Barrier Jacket, hopefully the Barrier Jacket's inborn strengthening and regeneration fields would help her.

The hairclip that housed Joanne's device, a university graduation present from her parents, began to glow the same teal color as before. The hairclip grew into a silver plastic band that wrapped around her ear before ending as a display screen over her right eye. After the clip itself finished its transformation, the teal glow extended down and covered her entire body. The glow persisted for a few seconds and then slowly faded, when it had completely left, Joanne's military uniform was gone, and in its place was her Barrier Jacket. Her entire body, up to her neck, was now robed in a light teal colored silk like material. The silk material was skin tight, but attached to it were strips of the same silvery plastic material that her hair clip was made out of. The outfit was complimented with a plane white lab coat that was only buttoned half way up.

With her Barrier Jacket now activated, her device began casting various fields on herself. It dulled most of her pain receptors, began stabilizing and strengthen her body, and began doing light repairs.

Within moments the blackness in her vision had faded and the world was no longer spinning. She could now hear what Captain Disanto was yelling into the loudspeaker. Her bruisers were disappearing and the smaller cuts were closing themselves, while the larger gashes had the bleeding halted. Even the slight burns on her face had disappeared before she noticed.

The problem that had led her to almost black out, was unfortunately coming from the back of her head. As she probed the area with her fingertips she was jolted with a stab of intense pain before her device blocked it. Withdrawing her hand so that her device would have time to do some repairs, she saw that her fingers were covered with a layer of sticky blood. Now slightly concerned, she went back and explored the wound again, this time gently, and with a little more caution.

The results were, slightly disheartening. The blood came from a large gash behind her ear, she couldn't see it, but from the feel of it, her device was slowly closing the wound. The problematic part was, that even through the skin and hair, she could still feel the fracture in her skull. The crack was that big, but it was still a problem, and mending bone was something that was beyond her medical skills, and improperly healing bone could have lots of unfortunate side-effects, mainly it could kill her. Her device finished healing the cut and stopped the swelling, but she would have to find a medic or field hospital to do anything about the fracture, but at least it wouldn't hinder her in anyway. She couldn't feel the pain and all of the damage was fixed so she would be fine as long as nothing else made the wound worse.

Since she was now able to stand, she did and looked around. She had fallen down the side of the hill and was now in a valley of sorts between the hill she had been standing on and another. There was a paved path there so she walked out of the grass and stood on the gravel walkway. From where she stood, she could tell that the sun had almost completely set, the hill and the smoldering tree on top of it blocked her view of it, but she could still see part of the majestic vista from before, but it was darker, there were more purples and blue and less red and oranges. Behind her, the sky was dark, dusk had set in and soon it would be night.

While she did take note of the suns position, she was more focused on the small discovery she had made, the hill she had been standing on was not in fact a natural hill, but a raised earthen tomb. In front of her was an elaborate stone entrance decorated with what appeared to be bronze. On the archway over the door, written in an older dialect of Belkan were the words, "Drysko Family Tomb." On the other hill was a similar door, decorated with the same ornate bronze work, but this one was labeled as the "Final Resting Place of Corry Burns."

Despite everything else going on around her, Joanne was more than a little creeped out by being alone, surrounded by ancient tombs at nighttime, in a giant graveyard. The ancient stone doors were something right out of one of the horror visual novels that her mother had been so fond of.

So now with two reasons to leave, a need for a medic and a childhood fear to flee, Joanne decided to leave and find a less eerie locale.

It was funny how certain things in life remain constant. Just like when she was a child and frightened by the dark, the solution was always, go towards a brighter place. So, while humming to herself, Joanne turned from the entrance to Corry Burns' tomb and began following the path back to the center of the island; towards the bright orange glow of the sun.

After she had only taken a few steps, Joanne noticed something that caused her to stop. There was something wrong with the air around her; somehow it felt, denser, like she was walking through a layer of film. She felt actual resistance with each step she took, and she could smell the scent of ozone in the air.

The oddity with the air was certainly and issue, but what really caught Joanne's attention and caused her to pause, was the fact that she remembered experiencing something like this before.

The sense of smell is supposedly deeply ingrained into memory, so she should have been able to place it by scent, which technically she could, the issue was, she worked in a research lab; she smelt ozone every other day. It was the sticky sensation of the air pushing her down that she couldn't place. She must have felt it at the labs, that was the only place she would have experienced something like this, but no matter how hard she wracked her memory, she still drew a blank.

She was just about to give up on recalling what it was, when the situation developed further and helped jog her memory. A deafeningly loud crack shot out across the fields, along with a rumbling that reverberated throughout the ground.

Caught completely unprepared from the painfully loud noise, Joanne had jump backwards a half step just in time for the ground to shake, she lost her footing on the shaking cobblestone path, and for the second time in minutes, found herself sprawled out on her back.

As she landed, she struck her head on one of the larger stones, and almost immediately blacked out. If her device hadn't been currently focusing on the area, she might have, so instead her visions exploded into a white starscape, and she struggled to remain conscious.

Joanne's consciousness waxed in and out while her device went about doing its repairs again. After a while, Joanne discovered that she was able to link coherent thoughts together, and decided to try to open her eyes again. But before that, she checked in with her device, just to make sure she wasn't seriously injured. The AI in her device confirmed that her fall had made the concussion worse, but that nothing had changed with the fracture. Since her device was already keeping the effects of the concussion at bay, Joanne figured she would be fine for now, and opened her eyes.

This time, instead of the endless white expanse with smaller whiter dots in it, all Joanne could see was a rocking, multi-colored haze filled with flashing colorful balls and lines.

Slamming her eyes shut, Joanne decided that she wasn't quite ready to be moving. Having nothing better to do at the moment, she continued her memory recall of the weird sensation. A few months after she had started working at the research labs, an experiment had gone out of control. The specifics of the experiment were classified, but there were enough details to paint a broad picture. The device was part of a two way system, specifically the receiver that was designed to transport large amounts of raw energy over long distances. If it had worked, energy would be able to be transferred where it was needed when it was needed, reducing the need for magical reactors. Unfortunately the device did not work correctly, Joanne wasn't exactly sure what went wrong, but during the test, the device overloaded and exploded. The test had taken place in an underground bunker in one of the Lab's test fields, so no one was injured, but after the blast everyone had gathered to do a review. Joanne remembered the massive crater, almost a half kilometer across, how the space inside of it was distorted, how the massive amounts of energy had caused almost harmful amounts of ozone to form, and how the ambient energy caused the air to be compacted so much that it increased its density.

Now that she was beginning to connect the dots, Joanne jolted into a sitting position and snapped open her eyes; not because she had remembered that the only other time she had experienced these particular atmospheric conditions was in the immediate aftermath of a colossal magical explosion, but because another ear-splitting crack rang out and rebounded off of the hills, while a second tremor shot throughout the ground. The shaking stones underneath her irritated her already bad head injury and she lurched upward with a pained groan.

Now sitting upright with her eyes open, Joanne first fought off another wave of dizziness, once the world stopped tilting to its side; Joanne was treated to the same sight of the colorful haze with flashing spots and lines. She was about to give up and fall backwards and hopefully black out, but she remembered what she had just been thinking about and decided to give looking around another try.

This time, she started out looking at the ground. When she slowly opened up one eye, she could see the little pebbles around the larger pieces of cobble stone, her vision didn't seem to be blurred and everything seemed fine, but she did note that there was a weird colorful glow to the stones, and that they seemed to be moving, perhaps vibrating a bit. She considered to reasons as to why that would be happening, and she didn't like either of them.

Strait down, looking at the ground was working out for her, she also scanned around and was able to see the grass and a few flowers, unfortunately they also had the glow and the same shaking. Taking the next step, Joanne looked to her left, towards the Drysko tomb, the elaborate stone doorway was hidden behind part of the hill, but she could still see the path leading to it and the hill itself, but that glow was still there.

The idea that she was seriously injured and hallucinating was rapidly becoming less possible, which meant that the other, and worse option, was becoming more practical.

However, before Joanne was able to take the last step to confirm her suspicions, another loud crack echoed through the fields, followed in close succession by three more. The ground shook and rumbled so much that Joanne thought she was going to fall, even though she was already lying on her back. The shacking was so intense that she could do nothing but frantically grab at the ground in an effort to stabilize herself. Just as the rumbling began to die down, a fifth, much louder crack, originating from much closer than the others, rang out. Although her device automatically created a small barrier around her ear drums, Joanne still instinctively covered her ears, but both measures proved to be inadequate, Joanne felt a "Pop" within her left ear, followed by an intense wave of pain as her ear drum ruptured. As she cried out in pain and confusion, the shockwave shook her and she nearly blacked out again from her head injury.

A few seconds had passed and Joanne had regained her senses; she was still in extreme pain and still dazed, but she was able to function. She somehow found herself off to the side of the path, underneath a shrub in the flowerbeds. Her device was attempting to repair her ear and limit her pain receptors, while still maintaining the skull fracture and concussion, however it was not making as much progress as she would have liked. Her device almost certainly lacked the regenerative abilities to repair her ear, so she manually told it to stop trying and focus on administering more pain killers.

Once the pain stopped being overwhelming, Joanne crawled out from underneath the bush that she had found herself under. She attempted to stand but only managed to get up to one leg before her balance gave out and she dropped to her knees. Until her device stabilized her balance, she wouldn't be able to stand, but as she started to choke on the smoke and dust that the loud explosions had kicked up, she realized she wasn't going to be able to stay in the little valley between the hills.

A sudden gray glow from in-front of her caught her attention, but before she could look up, it had faded away. However when she turned her gaze skyward, she was treated to the same sight from before, the same multi-colored haze with the blinking spots and flashing lights. This time, Joanne knew it wasn't just an injury induced hallucination, but that each one of those lines and spots were ship mounted capital grade weapons. Each blinking spot was a massive of destructive energies, each flashing line a heavy beam weapon, and all of them were tearing the city apart. Joanne watched as a large light blue energy ball broke through the clouds and raced towards the ground, it shot down towards the center of the island, right after she lost sight of it, another earsplitting crack rang out and the ground began to tremble again.

As a gust of wind shot down the little valley and washed over her, something in Joanne's mind clicked. She had rationalized everything since she had been drafted, every thought had been designed to make her feel ok about being here, and fighting, but it was all lies. Maybe back when she had graduated she had what it took to be a soldier, but after her time in the research labs, whatever resolve and dedication she had, had been replaced. She was woefully unprepared for this, but she had tried her hardest to convince herself that she could handle it; but she was wrong.

Perhaps all soldiers felt like this when faced with an enemy, or perhaps it was a unique experience due to the TSAB, but faced with a rain of destruction falling from the sky, let loose from hundreds of warships beyond the clouds, Joanne decided that she no longer cared.

She could not stay here, she wouldn't be able to fight, no one would. All of the others would die, destroyed and killed from orbit. The torpedoes had likely been aimed at the barriers and the large scale anti-ship platforms, their plan from the start had been an orbital attack, and no one planet side had seen it coming, and they would all die for their oversight.

But Joanne decided she would survive, she would live, because she would not fight or oppose the TSAB. She would flee, jump into the water and swim out towards the ocean, then after the bombardment stopped, she would swim ashore and if the TSAB found her, she would surrender.

So she stood on shaking legs, still off-balance due to her ruptured ear drum, and made her way back down the path, past the two intricate stone tomb entrances and towards the railing that separated the island from the river. She stumbled forward and almost fell, but managed to right herself at the last second; she was just passing the two entrances when another loud crack burst out and the ground shook, this time she fell forward. She skidded to a stop on her knees, her barrier jacket preventing the scrapes that would come from such a fall. She stood back up, and half ran, half fell the remaining few feet to the railing, she slammed into it and was beginning to flip herself over it when she caught sight of the other side of the river.

The TSAB's attack was not limited to the islands were the military was stationed; they were bombarding the entire city, the islands that made up the delta, the riversides, and even back into the suburbs. Their scan should have shown that there were no weapons in those areas, that there was only civilians there, but they still attacked it.

Now, no longer having her view obscured by hills, Joanne was able to witness the full scale of what the TSAB was doing to the city.

All off the high-rise apartments and business, all of those skyscrapers had collapsed under the initial attack; the husks of the once mighty structures were sprawled out across the roads. But even in their death, the TSAB's weapons pounded them into dust. Great colored beams gouged out rivets into the earth while massive energy attacks exploded and left gaping craters. The bombardment was causing so much damage that the riverbed's foundation was giving way and slipping into the waters. Each explosion would kick up great dust clouds that would smother the any fires that would spring up, but then as another attack would come down, it would disperse the clouds and restart the fires. Through the breaks in the dust and smoke clouds, Joanne could see, that all the way to the horizon, the same orbital attacks raining down, not only was the TSAB attacking the city and the suburbs, but even the outlying farmlands were not spared.

In that moment, Joanne understood, just like every other member of the Allied States Military on all of the other contested planets had, that the TSAB was not interested in conquest, that they had no plans to subjected the Allied State's people, but that their goal was to eradicate them. What she was viewing was not a military operation, but an extermination of her people, of her government, of her culture, of everything she had ever known.

As she stood watching, as everything she could see was being destroyed, she knew that the Allied States had never stood a chance, that the scope of the TSAB's strength was beyond what they had thought. No one would come to Oridian's aid, because nothing and no one would remain. Their fleets were powerless in front of the TSAB armada, powerless to halt their advance, powerless to defend themselves.

Unable to continue watching the scene of destruction in front of her, Joanne bowed her head in despair. She wanted to cry, to in some way protest the hopelessness of the situation, but no tears came, she was hallow on the inside, she had nothing else left. She just stood, motionless while watching the ground in front of her, while the TSAB battered the city into dust.

And as a vibrant blue beam sliced through the clouds and slammed into the ground, Joanne Gordon, corporal of the ASN Strikers, former researcher of the Oridian Theoretical Research Labs, faded out of existence.

* * *

Chapter Glossary.

Theoretical Magic-

One of the most common fields in magical research, Theoretical Magic deals with the creation of new spells and magic devices.

Theoretical Field Research is a sub-section devoted to the creation of new types of fields.

Weapons Satellite-

Stationary weapons platforms, usually around a planet or like body. Weapons satellites are usually automated, but they can be controlled by a command center, either on the planet or also in space.

Satellites are usually armed with weaker weapons that don't have large power requirements, however, large amounts of them can be a potent defense and can greatly augment a defending fleet.

Scrambling Fields-

Scrambling fields block or hamper transmissions and sensors, some target specific types of transmissions or sensors, blocking data transmissions and radar, but not telepathy or inferred.

Scrambling Fields are devastating to an opponent that has no capacity to bypass them, however, almost all major military units have a built in LINE transmission system (Line Integrated Nano Emission), it creates an almost physical link between the two units that moves through the Dimensional lines, because the transmission doesn't travel through open space or random dimensional lines, Scrambling fields have a very limited ability to interfere.

There is no LINE transmission system for sensors, and a powerful scrambling field almost entirely blocks long range sensors and interferes with short range ones.

Note. The TSAB's new scrambling field does block the LINE system. It seems to fill the dimensional lines with static that hinders the movement of any signals, and teleportation. The field doesn't penetrate a ships shields so internal system work, but anything outside is hindered, however, with enough power a signal can be forced through the static for short distances, the larger the distance the more power required.

Lawful Use of Weapons in Warfare Summit-

An inter-dimensional arms treaty providing rules on what weapons can be used during war, and how. The summit bans weapons that inflict unnecessary pain, weapons that attack the targets mind, weapons that cause dimensional disturbances, any weapon with enough power to destroy an entire planet, and weapons that travel through the dimensional lines amongst other things. The reasons for the bans range from humane reasons to overall safety reasons.

The summit also lays rules for when weapons can be used and provides rules of engagement and things focused on environmental damage and civilian casualties.

Few notes.

Orbital attacks are strictly prohibited, the lowest grade, attacking military forces away from civilized area's is an A class war crime, and everyone involved with the attack is considered a willing participant and is tried, that includes the captions and bridge crews.

The TSAB's Arc-en-Ciel Cannon is banned due to its damage to the dimensional barriers and the ease of which it can cause dimensional disturbances. However the TSAB only equips a small amount of its fleet with the cannon and keeps them close to Naval Headquarters and only uses them in Lost Logia incidents, the cannon has never been used in war.

The summit does not govern what mages are allowed to do. This is due to the wording in the Summit's Charter; it specifically says weapons, which are designated as devices that have pre-set spells in them. Since mages create and cast their own spells, they are fundamentally different and are not controlled by the Summit's rules.

Anti-Ship Platform-

Large scale, usually mobile, platforms that provide planet based defense against enemy ships. Almost all are designed to target ships that are inside of the atmosphere. Firing at ships outside of the atmosphere grants a temporary break in the ban on orbital bombardment, allowing the ships to return fire.

Belkan Strike Arts-

An ancient Belkan combat style predating the more modern Belkan magic system that utilizes the cartridge system. Strike Arts are a hand to hand combat style focusing on strikes and has some grappling mixed in. It has almost no long or mid ranged attacks and focuses almost entirely on unarmed close range combat.

Enhancer-

Mages that focus on the strengthening of their allies instead of direct combat potential. Besides her summoning abilities, Caro would be an Enhancer.

Mech infantry-

Robotic infantry, Like Starwar's droids. Mech infantry can be relatively humanoid in shape and capacity, or can be as large as a small building. Some are mostly mindless and have limited abilities, while others are advanced and have near human mental abilities.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

January 19th, Outer-dimension, sector Sierra-10, 13:09 UDT

Boop

For the past 3 hours, 14 minutes, and 58 seconds, the small, dimly lit chamber had been completely silent. Prior to those 3 hours, 14 minutes, and 58 seconds there had been quite the racket, and even prior to that, there had been the normal sounds that one would expect, but then came the racket, and then the deathly still silence, and then, on the 11,699 second, that silence was interrupted by a single computerized "Boop."

Boop

A computer panel, overturned in the corner was the source of the sound, if its screens weren't cracked and broken, and had anyone been there to read them, they would have discovered that the, "Boop" was an audio alert accompanying an emergency transmission. But the screens were cracked and shattered, and even if they weren't, there was no one in the chamber to read it, nor was there in any of the adjacent chambers. So the "Boop" continued, repeating every five seconds, until the sender of the emergency message got tired of waiting for a response, and initiated Naval Emergency Protocol M-21, and forced a transmission to connect with the speakers.

"BRRRRRRRZZZZZZZKKKKKKKK"

A loud static burst out the consoles speakers, punctuated by even louder pops. After a second is quieted down, and what might have been words could be heard throughout the static. More time passed and the signal cleared up more.

"BRZZZZ….. Copy? KRZZZZK Repeat…BZZ, Trying….. Frequency."

And with that, the signal was lost for a few seconds, and the silence returned, but it was short lived, seconds later the voice came back, clear.

"Attention transport ship Ovila, you have strayed from your flight plan and have entered restricted space. Do you copy Ovila? Reverse your course now."

Had there been anyone onboard the Ovila, they likely would have come forward and connected and spoke to the operator, however, the Ovila was currently lacking a crew.

"Come in Transport Ship Ovila, this is TSAB Naval Outpost Sierra-10, you are entering a Restricted Area, Halt your progress."

The voice on the transmission paused for a few seconds, hoping that someone on the Ovila would respond, when no one did, a new voice came out over the speakers.

"Transport Ship Ovila, this is Captain Jackard, Commanding Officer of TSAB Navel Outpost Sierra-10, do you have an emergency situation? Come in transport Ship Ovila. We are dispatching ships to escort you out of the Restricted Area. If you do not comply, we will use emergency protocol M-24 to commandeer your ship."

The Emergency Protocol M-20 Series is a list of software commands built into the main computers that most ships traveling through TSAB jurisdiction are required to have. Some ships, the smaller, cheaper, and older ones might not have it, and some less wholesome captains might disable them, but the Ovila was a smaller long range commercial transport, and a more recent model, and since code M-21 worked, it stood to reason that the other codes would too.

"Transport ship Ovila, this is your last warning, reverse course or we will commandeer your ship."

Code M-20 forces a signal link with the target, and M-21 forces audio communication. If anything had made a sound, outpost Sierra-10 would have heard it. M-22 could force open a visual link, but not all ships of the Ovila's size had that capacity, and M-23 could lock anyone in the ship out of the command functions, however, M-24 was the pride and joy of the M-20 series, it allowed a remote user to take over all bridge functions of the ship, this would let the command center at Outpost Sierra-10 remotely control the Ovila.

"Transport Ovila, we are now initiating Emergency Protocol M-24. Standby."

It went without saying that when M-24 was used, so was M-23, it would be disastrous to have to different people trying to control the same ship. It also prevented anyone from doing something drastic now that their ship was no longer theirs. The two protocols don't actually do anything to the ship; just alter who can control it. Which is why, when the people on Outpost Sierra-10 took control and ordered a full stop on the engines, they were supremely confident that this minor incident was now over with.

So it was with utter confusion that the command crew stood slack jawed when the Ovila's engines temporarily stopped, right before they exploded. The aft main engine sputtered to a stop, just like it was supposed to, and then began to vent fuel, which was not a part of stopping, nor was it something the Outpost told it to do. The fuel, an extremely reactive, high yield variant, drifted into the still active sub engines, and immediately ignited. The main engine promptly overloaded, tearing itself free from the main body before exploding. The Ovila, now caught in close proximity to a rather large explosion, was hurled forward on the rapidly expanding shockwave.

The explosion destroyed the remaining two sub-engines, crushed the main cargo bay, and disabled the main power generator. The Ovila was now, in every way that matter, a rapidly moving piece of wreckage, and Outpost Sierra-10 no longer had any control over it.

For a while, the command crew just sat there stunned, and it was only after the Captain spoke that everyone started moving again.

"Get the Shana and the Tririox out there, double time, and dispatch one of the triage ships, the Clasencia should be in that area. How long do we have until it hits the S-Line?"

"Sir, the Tririox is closer, but she is still almost an hour away, the Clasencia and Shana are going to be closer to two, the Ovila is going to break the S-Line in twenty minutes, maybe more if she loses some momentum."

"Captain, we have an unmanned surveillance drone nearby, it won't make it in time to stop the transport from passing the S-line, but it might be able to do something. Should I divert it?"

Captain Jackard paused to think, this was rapidly spiraling out of control. Outpost Sierra-10 was supposed to be a cake walk, a stepping stone from the academy to real command, and it was quickly falling apart. He went from having a ship straying off course to a ship exploding because he gave the order to use M-24, to a ship careening out of control towards an inhabited world. It hadn't quite reached "Catastrophe" level yet, but it was quickly escalating.

"Dispatch the drone, push it for all its worth, our first objective is to stop the Ovila before it crosses the Satellite Line, we will do anything to stop it before that happens. Ensign, if we ram the Ovila with the drone will that stop it?"

"Sir, under normal circumstances, the drone would be too small to stop it, however the transport is already badly damaged, it might stop, or we might be able to push it off course, but, most likely it will just destroy the transport. If there is anyone still on it…"

The junior officer trailed off, his un-spoken words obvious to all, "if anyone is onboard and still alive after the explosion, crashing the drone will kill them"

While the crew came to terms with that, the Captain spoke again.

"We might need to do that, but only if we have nothing else. Now, if we fail to stop it before the S-line, we need to be prepared to minimize the damage. What's our worst case scenario?"

"Uhhh, we fail to stop it and it strikes the planet dead on in a populated area. At its current speed and with our best guesses at its mass, it could create a kinetic shockwave roughly equal to an Arc-en-Ciel Cannon. Depending on where it hits, casualties could be anywhere from a few hundred to over one million."

"Captain, it's unlikely that it will hit dead on, it will almost certainly enter the planets orbit and come in at a slight angel, if we get lucky it will break up in that atmosphere, it will make a spectacle, but no one should get hurt."

Captain Jackard took a second, trying to find a solution. Although he did everything by the book, and even in hind-sight, all of his decisions were sound, allowing a disaster of this scale to happen was bad, and if natives lost their lives, he would be to blame. He needed something, anything to mitigate the damage, both to the planet, and to his career. But no matter how hard he wracked his brain, he came up with nothing.

"Ensign, open a line to Navel Headquarters, priority one, and send it to the terminal in my office. The rest of you, get that drone there as quick as possible."

"Sir, Yes, Sir"

Captain Jackard, now certain that his career was on the fast track to the garbage pile, slowly made his way to his office, sat at his desk and waited for only a few seconds before the screen lit up, showing some nameless junior officer he had never seen before.

"This is Navel Command, we read you Outpost Sierra-10. What is your situation?"

Just as he was about to begin explaining how this disaster started, Captain Jackard remembered an odd fact from his first day on the job, his predecessor, who was now retired, had told him that he should report any unusual occurrences directly to an Admiral Markely. At the time, Captain Jackard had found it highly unusual, that he should bypass the normal chain of command and report to someone he had never heard of, but he hadn't dwelt on it, and soon forgot about it.

"Actually, can you connect me to an Admiral Markely? I am not sure what division he is in."

Sure he had no idea who Admiral Markely was, and had even less of an idea as to why he should be reporting to him, but his predecessor had stressed that point for some reason. And really, at this point in time, the situation couldn't be made much worse, but, if Admiral Markely was someone high up, perhaps he could somehow salvage the situation.

"One moment please."

The junior officer had obviously not expected that what he thought was an emergency call from some far flung outpost would end up being a request for someone's contact information. However, after he had finished punching in the Admirals name, the officer's expression changed.

"Security password?"

Ah, that was right, the old captain had mentioned a password, it was a large one, and the last 5 digits were unique to Jackard, they were the first numbers of his military ID number.

"Umm. Gamma9-BE444 Tango, Alpha, Alpha, umm the rest was… Star, 3g9, no wait, 3e9, and then I think… K-10 Zulu 6HA3, ah the last was, 19-4-66."

"Confirmed... Transferring to Admiral Markely at…Mobile Section 2…"

Captain Jackard had initially assumed that the officer's puzzled expression was due to him asking for Admiral Markely, and then directed at his bumbled attempt to remember the security code, and then, probably the fact that the code worked. But when he read out the words, "Mobile Section 2," Captain Jackard's expression changed to mirror his.

The Mobile Sections were obscured in legends, and Jackard had only ever heard of 3 of them, Section 1 protected the interests of Cranagan, the Capital city of Mid-Childa. They were the most well known, acting as an enhanced police force. Mobile Section 3 was a significantly smaller group, tasked with the protection of the Saint Church, and Section 5 was set up following the first resurgence of the Book of Darkness over 200 years ago. Section 5 was possibly the largest, but it was only active during periods of time when the Book of Darkness was active, however since it had been over 15 years since the last time the Book appeared, Section 5 had disbanded last year.

Captain Jackard could list hundreds of other rumors attributed the various sections, some more ridiculous than others, he had even heard stories about the other sections, but Section 2, there were no stories, no rumors, no legends, nothing, Section 2 might not even exist.

But it obviously did, he was about to speak to an officer from it, an admiral no less. Captain Jackard didn't know what to make of it, was he really about to speak to someone that might not even exist?

And then the screen changed, the junior communications officer was replaced by what Captain Jackard assumed was an ancient dead corpse, right up until it began talking.

"Ah, Captain Gene Jackard, it a pleasure. So how are you fitting in at Sierra-10? It has been what, 8 months, 3 days since you were transferred? I hope you like it; we spent a little extra to make it a bit more comfortable. I just can't stand the metal floors that most long rang outposts have, so we had that carpeting put in, but I must confess, I have never set foot there. Anyway, what brings you my way? Nothing major I hope?"

What he had originally thought of as an ancient dead body had turned out to be an almost as ancient old man. The man, presumably Admiral Markely, was so old; it looked as if he might just turn to dust. All the captain could see what his face, but he was covered in wrinkles, the little hair he had left was pure white, his lips were drawn in, his eyes, which were hidden behind a pair thick glasses, were a sickly yellow color, and his entire head was a fraction the size of a normal one. He looked exactly like a dehydrated body.

"Um, you are Admiral Markely?"

"Oh my, where are my manners? Can't have a proper conversation without proper etiquette, now can we? I am Admiral Winston Markely, Second in command of Mobile Section 2."

All things considered, Captain Jackard had half expected him to deny being in Mobile Section 2, or at the very least, to not just come out and confirm it.

"So, Mobile Section 2…"

"Ah Yes, we do hide ourselves better than the other Mobile Sections, but it is mostly because of our limited scope with what we do, which you will have to forgive me, I am not currently at liberty to say. Now, while I would love to entertain your inquiries, I do believe you had something to tell me that warranted this contact? I apologize; due to our limited budget we aren't able to keep an operative or even a direct link to your base."

"Um, yeah, we have a situation…"

"Go on."

"A commercial transport strayed into restricted space, we tried to contact them, but we were ignored. From what we could tell, the ship was just a normal ship; there was no reason for them to change their flight plan or to ignore us. We considered the possibilities that they might be smugglers, but the ships registry checked out, it was a small transport belonging to a small corporation based on Administered planet 348, Genurd. Um, I gave the order to use Emergency Protocol M-24 to take over the ships operations, but that ended…poorly."

"How so?"

"Err, the engines overloaded and exploded, the ship is now out of control and heading towards the planet."

"And you can't stop it I take it?"

"No, we can't, it's going to pass the satellite line in about fifteen minutes, and then it could go straight into the planet from there."

"Not good, not good at all. We need to minimize damage, and exposure. Luckily I already have agents on site, and the TSAB has recently acquired some new assets that can be used here. Also I am going to deploy our headquarters, The Terra, and I'll be taking command. Oh don't worry Captain, you did your job just fine, you followed protocol perfectly, there is just more at stake here than you know, and it is imperative that we handle this delicately."

Captain Jackard felt a momentary bout of nausea well up in his gut. Since his parents had passed on, the TSAB had been his entire life; he had no close friends and no family. If he lost his job over this, he would have nothing; his career had become his entire life.

"So… I am relieved of duty then?"

Saying the words out loud made him feel even worse, for a second he thought he was about to actually be sick.

"No, No, not at all, you did the best you could have done, you simply followed procedure, I was thinking you would retire after this. That is unfortunately what makes this such a sad turn of events. Because you really were a good officer. It does however make things easier on us that you focused so much on your career, not having many contacts out of the navy will help ease your disappearance. Well, I do apologize for this, but, our existence needs to remain a secrete, I'm sure you understand."

Captain Jackard had been listening intently at the beginning, but towards the end, his attention wavered, and by the time Admiral Markely had finished speaking, Captain Jackard wasn't listening at all. He had focused on the strange numbness that somehow started spreading out from the back of his neck, and at the end, well, he was already dead.

"Hmm, so efficient, he was dead before I even finished talking, good job Vier. I didn't even notice you teleporting in, and I was expecting it. I take it you used toxin 3? Or maybe 7? It's hard to tell without actually being there in person"

The body of Captain Jackard suddenly fell from the chair and landed in a heap on the floor. In the now vacant chair, the air shimmered for a second before a deep gray barrier was dropped, revealing a young woman, possibly in her early thirties, wrapped in a black jumpsuit, sitting cross legged in the former captain's chair.

"Three. If you want me to dispose of it now, I can."

All that could be said about the woman was that she was on the smaller side; everything else seemed to change with time. Minor shifts in her cheek bones, a slight lengthening and then reduction in her jaw, her eyes slowly faded color, freckles and a mole would occasionally appear only to fade away later. The entire structure of her face, even her skin tone was in a constant fluid state, slowly melting from one appearance to another, even her voice changed as she spoke.

"Yes, please do. But make sure you get a good look at it first, you need to be him until I get there."

"What about the rest of the base?"

Admiral Markely seemed to pause and consider that for a second.

"No, the base should be fine for now. Only the late captain there and the comm. Officer heard about us, and I just got a report here, saying that a lieutenant junior grade, Mitchell Summers just died in an unexplained teleportation accident."

The Admiral chuckled to himself for a second.

"Now Vier, I will be there with the Terra in about an hour, maintain the situation there, and get ready to have Captain Jackard retire in shame over his failure."

As he was speaking, the odd woman got out of the chair and turned and stared at the body of the Captain, for a little while her body stopped changing forms, but then it rapidly accelerated, and when the blur of changes stopped, her jump suit had stretched to make room for her new form, one that perfectly mirrored the former captain.

"Understood sir. What about the current situation?"

While the voice of a dead captain coming out of what was only seconds ago a woman might have jarred some, Admiral Markley didn't even notice it.

"I only have two agents in a position to do anything at this early stage, and their options will be limited. I will use them as damage control, and leave the main job to the small TSAB garrison on planet. Oh, and get rid of that."

"Yes, Sir. Then I am on standby until the situation develops further?"

As she was speaking, she bent down next to Captain Jackard's corpse, a long metallic spine seemed to grow out of her finger and she roughly stabbed it into his chest. She held it there until she had finished what she wanted to say to the admiral, and then extracted the spine and moved back to the chair. By the time she had sat back down, the body in the room had disintegrated, turned to vapor and was sucked into the air circulation system. The final resting place of Captain Jackard was now an air filter on the 3rd level of Outpost Sierra-10.

"Listen Vier, I want this to go flawlessly, my predecessor allowed two large scale incidents to go down within a year, and that is why she was disposed. I will not allow the same failure to happen on my watch. Understood?"

While she began putting the now unused uniform that was lying on the floor, Vier responded over her shoulder.

"Yes, sir."

"Good, then I will see you planet side."

"Yes, sir."

And with that the line was cut. The assassin Vier performed her duty perfectly, with a sorrowful apology to the crew, Captain Jackard's resignation over his failure in the incident was recorded and accepted by naval command, He would be temporarily relieved by one, Admiral Markely, a good friend of his from way back.

As for the Admiral, whose record was now quite different, he teleported to uninhabited planet 110 where the Terra was currently hidden. As the oddly designed cruiser blasted off of the surface of the small red planet, Admiral Markely sat in the command chair, planning and designing counter plans, and planning contingencies to those plans.

Once the Terra had reached orbit, Admiral Markely gave a single order to his crew.

"Set heading for Non-administered Planet 97."

-Page-

January 19th, Earth, 13:24 UDT

"Everyone, into your positions, our informant has confirmed that the target is in transit, ETA, 40 seconds. Bring up the stealth barrier"

After the speaker had finished, there was a frantic reshuffling, as people quickly moved and hid behind cover, some crouched down behind low objects, while others stood ready inside the doorways leading to the other rooms. There was a light teal glow as magical barriers were put into place, and then all of the lights in the room went off.

All of the figures stood ready, in silence, for twenty seconds.

"ETA is now 15 seconds, get ready."

There was a momentary pause before a second figure spoke up.

"You know, you're awfully into this Signum-san; and kinda good at it."

The tall pink haired knight responded almost immediately, from behind some window curtains.

"I am merely following my mistress's wishes. Also, ambushes are one of the basics of magical combat."

There was another short pause, and then another figure spoke up.

"Ummmm, Signum, you do know that we aren't attacking her right? It's just a surprise."

"I know Mistress; we just hit her with this cut up paper while the rest of you distract her with the flash bangs. I was there for the briefing."

"Oh, ok…Wait, did you say flash bangs?"

Before she could answer, a fourth voice spoke up.

"Ok, everyone, let's put this off until later, the gate is activating and this will be my new daughter's first birthday at home."

At Admiral Lindy's request, the conversation was dropped.

The area around the Teleportation Gate glowed and hummed for a second, and then, with a flash of light, Fate Testarossa-Harlaown appeared on the slightly raised platform hidden in an alcove. As everyone had expected, the Stealth Barrier only hid those behind it, the barrier itself was obvious and Fate immediately sensed it. First her face showed surprise, then confusion, followed by panic, but it was all almost instantaneous, and then her face returned to normal. Out off all the people observing her through scrying lenses, only one person noticed. Noticed the flash of emotions, and noticed that the now calm expression was fake.

Magic, although it is completely different, still functions in many ways as a science. Everything follows an order, and the goal is to discover that order, but even then, there are things that are just plainly impossible. Magic is just pure energy, energy that can be generated and controlled by a person, but it has no mass; unless it is acting upon you, it can't be felt or heard, it has no taste or scent, at least by itself. Magical energy can alter things, and you can feel that, but the energy itself, that is almost unperceivable by normal senses. So it defied common knowledge, and should have been impossible, but Nanoha Takamachi had always been able to sense Fate's magic. She wasn't exactly sure how or why, but Fate's magic brought to mind a sweet and tangy sensation, like orange slices soaked in sugar and honey. The sensation would rush through her body, waking her up and bringing the world into sharper focus, it covered her body in warmth and she felt a feeling of comfort and tranquility. Nanoha could even notice differences based on what Fate's magic was intended for, her feeling were strongly conveyed through the unique feeling that Nanoha received.

Right now, Nanoha was able to taste Fate's magical aura, it was the sharper bitter one, the one that raced though her mind, setting her nerves on edge, making her heart beat and her breath pick up. This was what Fate's magic was like when it was intended for an attack, and Nanoha knew that all too well, she had after all, been on the receiving side of it before.

The plan had been to hide behind the barrier until Fate stepped off of the platform, then they would drop the barrier and surprise her, while Signum and Arf threw confetti at her and used the party favors that Signum had gotten, they had even set it up so that some hundred balloons would fall from the ceiling after they jumped out.

But now that Nanoha had a new insight into Fate's mind, she decided that things needed to go differently. She called up a canceling spell and an unraveling spell at the same time into her left hand, and then jumped forward and struck the barrier, a quick strengthening field allowed her to tear into the barrier's Mana Threads, where she released both spells. The canceling spell shot down each of the threads and knocked out the stealth magic, while the unraveling spell followed after and disintegrated the barrier itself.

It was a good thing it was Yuuno who put the barrier up, if it had been anyone else's, it would have been much harder to break. Nanoha had worked with Yuuno long enough that she recognized the patterns in his magic almost immediately, sure they were way more complicated than the barriers that a normal mage would make, but once she discovered that intricate patterns woven from the Mana Threads were basically the same for all of his spells, learning to bypass them had become so much easier. Nanoha has yet to mention this too him, she just wasn't sure how to tell him that his prided defensive spells had such a huge weakness. But it turned out to be a good thing in the here and now; it allowed her to cut right through the barrier.

Before she had even finisher the jump and landed on the ground, the barrier had broken apart. Right as she landed she sent out a telepathic message to everyone in the room, a single and simple word,

NOW

Signum was the first to act, she had been watching as Nanoha broke the barrier prematurely, and had already changed her plans. Immediately after Nanoha has telepathically yelled, Signum had already triggered the balloons to fall and had launched her box of confetti at Fate.

After a moment's hesitation, everyone else got their act together, and in one big voice, made up of all of her friends and family, they yelled out,

"HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY FATE-CHAN"

Fate was momentarily caught off guard, she hadn't know what to expect when she noticed intruders in her house, but out of all of the scenarios she had thought of, this was not one of them. She abruptly halted her charge and stumbled forward confused and slightly disoriented. Why was there a box of paper being thrown at her? And why was her living room now filling with balloons?

Then her slight disorientation became complete disorientation when Signum's Party Favors went off. In retrospect, telling Signum that party favors were "Like Small Flash bangs" was probably not the best idea, since she went and ordered "Deluxe Micro Flash bangs." Twenty flash bangs, designed for law enforcement use, went off at once in Fate's living room. Blinded and deafened, Fate fell forward, into a pair of outstretched arms, who she immediately recognized as Nanoha's.

The two fell down into a heap, if either of them could hear or see; they would have seen and heard everyone else crashing to the floor, but they couldn't, and all they could currently saw was a white haze.

Unable to communicate in any other way, Nanoha spoke telepathically.

So…Surprise. Happy Birthday Fate.

Thank you Nanoha

Don't worry about it; it's tradition, surprise parties are age honored tradition

No that's not what I meant, I mean, Thank you for that too, I meant, Thank you for…

As Fate paused, Nanoha mentally sighed, she knew Fate would be uncomfortable with this topic, and she herself didn't enjoy it much either, but she knew that despite her discomfort, Fate still felt that she needed to apologize.

Its fine, I saw your face, you were a little too surprised, so I just jumped the gun a little.

…

I guess surprise parties are a bit much, next year will do a regular birthday party.

No. I want a normal party, a normal surprise party. This was just…

Ok, we'll do the same next year; well not the exact same, then it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?

If Fate, or anyone else in the house was currently able to see, they would have seen Nanoha with her trademark grin on her face. Fate had known Nanoha for three years now, which for most people, wasn't that long, but for Fate, 3 years was almost her entire life, and even though she was still blind, she knew Nanoha was currently smiling.

Thank you Nanoha

Those words, even said telepathically, echoed with different emotions.

Plus, this was right off of a mission, your stressed out. Its fine, next year will go smoother. We'll just keep trying until we get it right, hopefully next year we won't go blind or deaf, right?

That made Fate think, she was still unable to see, but her hearing had returned in the form of a dull buzzing sound that blocked everything else.

Why are we blind?

Hmmm, truthfully, I am not really sure; I think there might have been a misunderstanding over what exactly party favors are.

How… why would that…I don't get it.

Hayate and Signum.

Ah.

There was a pause there while Nanoha continued to hold Fate, and Fate tried to figure out how a miscommunication, even one between Hayate and Signum, could have ended up like this. Not that she had a hard time believing it, Hayate and her Knights would frequently get into, Unique, situations, it was just that she couldn't immediately figure out how this had happened. Perhaps it somehow tied in with some kind of Birthday ritual that she was unaware of?

The two sat there for a little while, their senses slowly returning, Nanoha content to just monitor the progress, and Fate still trying to work things out, however eventually Nanoha broke the silence, figuratively speaking.

Um, Fate Chan?

Hmm?

I've been meaning to ask this for a while…

Yes?

What's that smell?

-Page-

January 19th, San Diego, California, 13:31 UDT

JJ Murphy cautiously scanned the faces of the four people across from him, looking for anything, anything to give him the tinniest insight into their minds.

Harold was his normal stoic self; his face looking like it was chiseled from stone. Vinnie was playing with his hair, did that signify something? Or was that just his normal fidgety self? Doug was looking around the table, scanning faces just like JJ was; perhaps he was doing it for the same reason? And Laura, she kept looking down at her lap and then shooting her gaze up, and every time she met anyone's eyes, she would have the biggest smile on her face.

She had to be bluffing, or was about to pull out another ungodly hand.

JJ was one card away from a straight, he had the 4, 5, 6, and 7, all he need was the 8 or the 3, but Harold had the 8 of spades showing, and Laura had the 3 of clubs. JJ had just under a 12% chance of getting the right card, but was it worth trying for?

"Ok males, and female, I'm in."

Well since Vinnie was staying in, he must have something. Now about the others, the pot was already at 40, the stakes weren't necessarily high, but they were high enough that JJ didn't want to throw it away.

"Me too, what about your Harold? You staying in?"

"No. I fold."

So Harold was out, and Doug was in, and now it was JJ's turn to decide.

Well, might as well go for it.

"I'm in. And I raise 15."

"Wow, ok so I fold now."

Vinnie threw down his cards and got up to get coffee. While he was getting up, Doug studied JJ's face.

"I see you, and raise another 15."

JJ smiled, to himself, not outwardly, didn't want to give anything away. Doug's only tell was when he bluffed on a raise. If he had nothing and wanted to bluff, he would always raise again, so he had nothing.

"Um guys? So do I have to put 15, or 30 to stay in?"

And that was Laura, who had insisted that it would be sexism if she wasn't included in the game. And once she forced everyone to relent, she immediately went about reinforcing every stereotype possible. She was way too easy to read, she got hyper when her had was good, and would sigh whenever it wasn't. And if that was all of it, it would have been fine, but instead, she took it a step further, she would ask if her hands were good. "If all of my cards are the same suit, is that good?" "I have four jacks, does that beat having five cards in a row?" "Is it just two pairs even though I have three aces and two kings?" And that was the worst part, she had obscene luck, she had no strategy, no planning, but she just naturally drew the best hands possible. JJ expected her to draw a royal flush at some point. The only thing that made this manageable was the fact she was so easy to read. Everyone would fold when she had good hands, and then make their money back when she had bad ones.

"Laura, come on, this is like the hundredth time you've asked that, you add them together, so it's 30, on top of the ante of 2, so 32 total."

"Oh, ok, well here is 32, oh I am in I guess."

"Ok good, good, I raise another 30, hell let's make it 32, we'll double the current bet."

"Living dangerously man, ok, I'll see that, and raise another 5. Laura you wanna raise?"

"No that's fine. I'll stay in."

With the pot now substantially larger, the last cards were just about to be passed out, it was do or die. Any second now, JJ would know whether or not he will be taking home a nice bonus, or eating nothing but instant packets of ramen noodles until next payday.

Doug dealt the first card to Laura, making a whole dramatic deal of it.

"Aaaaannnndddd, here is your last card Laura, and DON'T flip it over this time. JJ my man, this is your last card, with it we will know how much of a looser you really are. And last, but certainly not least, this card right here, right here in my hand, will be the card that determines how awesome I really am."

Well that was new form of bluffing for Doug, he did have a pair of 5s showing, and he might have even more hidden under his face down card. But if the card that JJ just got, the one he was about to look at, turned out to be a flop, he would lose no matter what. And right as he was about to pick up his last card…

That happened.

A warning alarm originating from a terminal literally 3 feet away went off. Everyone at the table jumped, Laura threw her cards into the air, Vinnie almost fell out of his seat, Doug, who had been dealing, dropped the deck, and Harold, he didn't even flinch. As for JJ, well he had to take a second just to make sure that his heart hadn't stopped with that, pulse was still there though, just moving a lot faster than normal.

"Aw what the hell is that?"

"Laura, you threw your cards, you ruined the game."

"Hey you're the one who dropped the deck."

"Do something about that alarm."

JJ got up and made his way over to the computer. But "Computer" didn't do it justice. The high-tech, classified computer that JJ's job revolved around, the computer that was so confidential that before JJ could even look at it, three different offices had to do background checks; he had to go through six hours of interviews, signed over 100 different papers swearing secrecy. Every day before work, they spent over 30 minutes making sure there was no surveillance equipment on him; he wasn't even allowed to bring a cell phone to work.

And although it was technically his responsibility to check the computer, Vinnie spoke up, needing to reinforce his image as an annoying Know it all.

"It's probably just the scheduled move for today. Remember they are moving GOES-10 into a higher altitude tonight."

"Yeah, but I thought that wasn't till later."

Honestly, JJ had been more focused on the game than the time. He was pretty sure it wasn't time yet, but he wasn't sure. However Harold checked his watch before answering.

"No we still have an hour and 7 minutes until the scheduled transfer of GOES-10"

JJ got to the terminal and disengaged the warning siren before sitting down at the super classified computer, the computer that only 406 people worldwide were qualified to use. Why were so few qualified to use it? Partially because it contained incredibly complex programs, and partially because of the necessary security clearance to even touch it. And the next obvious question would be, "Why, or what does that terminal do?"

Well, that particular computer console is the main radar terminal for the San Diego branch receiving station of Naval Space Command Surveillance System, otherwise known as, Space Fence, a major component of the USA's Space Surveillance Network.

JJ didn't even want to think about how much money his government had poured into this project, a massive radar array, actually 3 arrays, and 6 receiving stations spread across the entire country, a radar system that could track objects the size of a baseball as far out as 30,000 miles, maybe even more. And it does that while those objects fly around at over 100 miles per second.

Now at his computer screens, JJ had a better grasp of the situation, sort of.

"Well it isn't GOES-10. That's still where it supposed to be, I can see it clearly. But, I am picking up something else, that isn't in the registry…"

"Asteroid?"

"ICBM?"

"Spy Satellite?"

"Alien?"

Oddly enough, it was Harold who suggested the Alien.

"Maybe? Its moving fast, really fast. Telemetry is working on that now. I… I have no idea what this is."

It took a second for that to sink in. While there were protocols for this, no one had ever had to deal with it before, so they all just kind of, sat there.

"I think… I think this is bad."

"It could be a missile."

"Who would shoot a missile, the Russians? Chinese? Why would they do that?"

"North Korea maybe?"

"The North can't even make a true nuclear bomb, let alone an ICBM."

"Not to cut you wild speculation short. But I just got telemetry in. It's large, large enough to be either of those things. It's about 100 feet long, and around 40 wide. It's also moving at around 170,000 mph an hour."

"What? That's impossible. ICBMs don't even get close to that."

"How high up is the unidentified?"

"Telemetry is putting it at around 42,000 miles up. We can only get a reading on it due to its size and speed."

"ICBMs don't go that high either, they rarely get past 1000 miles up."

"What should we do?"

"I am running some diagnostics and system checks to make sure this isn't a computer glitch. Someone get on another computer and monitor the telemetry, and someone else double check the registry."

"We're on it."

Laura and Doug ran to adjacent terminals to follow the object while JJ was running the diagnostic.

"Object is rapidly dropping in altitude, and is about to pass the 120th meridian."

"Nothing is coming up in the registry, object is not broadcasting an identification code, and its radar signature is not matching up with any known satellites."

"My tests are showing nothing wrong with the hardware, or software. I… we, need to report this to the SCC."

The rest just sorta stared, not exactly sure what to do, but willing to let JJ call the shots.

"Well Vinnie, you're the comm. guy, make the call."

Vinnie looked utterly horrified that he would have to be the one making the report.

"Oh yeah, I guess I'll go do it."

As he slowly shuffled over to the little red phone that would connect him to the Space Command Center deep inside of the Cheyenne Mountain all the way out in Colorado, JJ almost felt bad for him. He was literally shaking as he picked up the phone. He stood there for a second, before he spoke in a quiet, nervous voice.

"This is operator 6-6-2 from Naval Space Command Surveillance, San Diego branch receiving station. We are looking for confirmation of an unidentified object heading west through sectors 100 to 109."

There was a tense few seconds when Vinnie just stood there listening to the other end of the call, and everyone else just stared.

"Ok. Let me relay that to the radar operator."

Vinnie cupped his hand over the phone's mouthpiece and turned to face JJ.

"They confirmed the object on their screens and also, confirmed it with the High-Altitude array in New-Mexico. Their hardware is different from ours, so we can say it's not a glitch."

"What about the Red River station in Arkansas? Can they see it?"

"Red River is too far away, New-Mexico can only get a reading because they have a larger array."

"Ok, see if they can get confirmation from one of the GEODSS sites, or with the SST."

Vinnie went back to the phone; the conversation seemed to have helped him calm down, at-least he was no longer shaking.

"Requesting visual verification of the unidentified through GEODSS or SST."

There was another pause while the operator on the other end of the line was speaking.

"Ok, understood. We will keep watching on our screens for now. Umm, bye."

With the call over, Vinnie put the phone down and almost collapsed into his chair.

"Um, ok, we have a pending negative on GEODSS confirmation; the ones in Socorro, New-Mexico and Maui, Hawaii are no good for now. Socorro is probably already out of range, and by the time they aim it in the right direction, it will be. And it's still daylight in Hawaii, so unless the Unidentified stays up there for a while, we won't get a look at it with a GEODSS."

"What about a Space Surveillance Telescope?"

"Not good there. There is a storm system moving east through Oregon and into Idaho and Wyoming, none of the sites up north have clear weather. The same weather is blocking line of sight for the Utah site. And the Nevada site is currently down for system maintenance. But there is a Navy ship about 300 miles of the cost that is equipped with a small SST, but they need to deploy the telescope before they can use it. So it's going to be about 15 minutes until we get a look at whatever it is."

"So… they want us to keep monitoring it then?"

"Oh yeah, they do. They said to keep watching it and report any changes. I think Command has people on it too."

"Ah, so I guess we should all just get to work then…"

The five of them nervously went back to their posts and silently monitored the rapidly approaching object. Each of the five had different thoughts running through their heads, "Nuclear War," "Asteroid," Alien Invasion," and while they all though of different things, they all translated into Armageddon, the end of the world. And while they panicked, the high speed object was making its way across the pacific.

With each of them visualizing the world's destruction, it almost came as a relief when Doug broke the silence, unfortunately, the way he went about it wasn't the best.

"Aw…Shit."

When Doug spoke, the others all reacted instantly, their nerves on edge and their senses heightened. Laura and JJ both spun their chairs to face him, Harold just turned his head, and Vinnie jumped and slammed his knees into the underside of his desk. Following the loud bang, the three that weren't Vinnie all asked at the same time,

"What?"

"This is bad. Telemetry has another object in the Unidentified's path. It's on an intercept course. Laura what's the registry on this object?"

Laura spun back to her computer as Doug sent the data over to her. A few taps of the keyboard later, Laura turned back to the others.

"The new object is BSAT-2a. It's a new Japanese Broadcast Satellite. It's owned by NHK, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation."

"Doug, How long until they collide?"

"Uh, not sure, 20 seconds, give or take."

They all turned to face their screens, waiting to see what would happen. And 21 seconds later, the little blip on the screen that was the Unidentified, momentarily overlapped with the blip that was BSAT-2a. And then the screen lost sight of BSAT-2a, but where it had been only moments ago, a rapidly expanding cloud of new targets had appeared. The debris from the impact had created over 100 new targets that were temporarily overloading the receiving stations ability to effectively track anything.

"Vinnie, get on the phone. Report this."

"Oh, Yeah ok."

JJ spared Vinnie a glance before he turned back to the screen. The man's face had glazed over and he was barely responsive. Everyone had known Vinnie was, well a little bit of a sissy, and he defiantly didn't perform well under stress. He made up for it by being a genius, his IQ was in the 140's, but that wasn't helping in this situation.

"This is operator 6-6-2 from Naval Space Command Surveillance, San Diego branch. The Unidentified has just collided with a civilian broadcast satellite of Japanese origin, registry is, BSAT-2a. We have a debris cloud obscuring sensor readings."

For a second JJ was sort of impressed, Vinnie seemed to be on the ball, but a quick glance told him that he was basically operating on autopilot. JJ wasn't even sure if he was still entirely conscious.

Unfortunately, with JJ's attention focused on his co-worker, he didn't immediately pick up an important detail concerning the Unidentified.

If he had looked, His radar screen would have shown that the Unidentified was still intact, which by itself wasn't really that unreasonable. The more momentum something has when it collides, the more likely that it will just blow through the obstruction and keep on going. But that's not what the screen showed, and when JJ finally turned to look, and saw that the Unidentified seemed to be in the same spot, he almost let out a breath of relief; for a second he thought the object had been stopped.

But then he realized what was really happening and he dove back to his terminal and brought up the telemetry data. His screen didn't show a 3-d image; instead it just showed an overhead overlay of whatever was in the space above North America. Unfortunately that meant that things with different elevations were displayed exactly the same. There was a little info box attached to the radar blips that showed the registry info along with relative speed and altitude, but the Unidentified was in the middle of a debris cloud, that if nothing else, cluttered the screen and made it nearly impossible to tell what was going on.

With the telemetry data being linked with Laura's terminal, JJ could see that the Unidentified's speed had dropped, not a lot, and not enough for its movement to be hidden like that, it was still traveling well over 100,000 MPH. The Unidentified was being displayed in the same place not because it had stopped, but because its direction had changed. Instead of flying across the planet, it was now aimed directly at the planet, flying straight down at over 100,000 mph.

JJ almost felt his brain short out. He could barely comprehend this situation. He knew what was, and what would happen, but he couldn't attribute meaning to it. But he had to, and he forced himself to turn to the rest of the team. He saw Vinnie still on the phone and interrupted whatever they he was saying.

"Vinnie, report this. Object's vector has changed. It's heading straight down towards the planet at 109,500 mph. We will have impact in just over 12 minutes."

The others just sort of stopped; it took a while for them to process that information, that something the size of a three story building was falling dead on towards the Earth, at well over 100 times the speed of sound.

As they came to grasp that concept, their faces all changed to show varying degrees of horror; Laura fell back into her chair and stifled some form of sobbing gasp, Doug just froze with a blank expression on his face, Harold steadily became more upset as he tried to figure out how much damage that this would cause. The only one seemingly unaffected was Vinnie; he just robotically reported JJ's words into the phone's mouthpiece.

JJ went back to his terminal and tried to follow the Object's trajectory. It didn't really matter where it landed, it would cause catastrophic damage no matter what. If it hit the water, which was looking likely, it would spawn massive tidal waves, waves that could easily reach over hundreds of feet and would destroy the coast lines of Asia and America, they would probably reach far enough to damage the Southern Hemisphere. If it hit land, well JJ wasn't exactly sure what it would do, he did know that it would kick up an enormous amount of dust and it could be a repeat of the asteroid collision that cause the extinction of the dinosaurs.

If an Earth destroying disaster wasn't enough, JJ had to consider his own safety. San Diego was clearly within the "Total Destruction" area, when that Thing hit, it could be as little as an hour before the city would be washed away. Hopefully the military would evacuate the base, but that wasn't certain. They might not be able to get enough transport to get everyone away in time.

JJ, and everyone else's, probably millions of people, prospects of survival hinged on whether or not the Unidentified broke up in the atmosphere. And as it continued its decent, now almost half way there, that was looking less and less likely.

JJ turned to the rest of his team, who for the past five minutes since he had told Vinnie what to report, had been staring at his back motionlessly.

"Vinnie, report this to the SCC. The Unidentified's estimated trajectory is going to put in the Pacific Ocean, about 100 miles off the eastern coast of Japan."

Before he continued, JJ had to take a deep breath. The words he was about to say were going to almost cause him physical pain.

"Recommend the complete evacuation of the Japanese mainland and all outlying islands; along with the entire Chinese coastline, and all other coastal nations. Also suggest preparations to evacuate the American west coast and the Australian region."

As he finished speaking, JJ took the time to assess his team, and was surprised, either they had already worked things out and came to the conclusion he had, and as such, were not surprised by what he had to say, or they had mentally checked out, just like Vinnie apparently had.

Although, apparently Vinnie was still functional enough to report what JJ had said into the phone. With Vinnie droning on in a monotone robotic voice, JJ went back to his terminal, and began monitoring the objects descent.

As Vinnie was just wrapping up his report, JJ went to check the telemetry again to see how much time was left, and oddly enough, the display showed nothing. When JJ went back to the main screen he sputtered in disbelief.

Today had been a rollercoaster of emotions, and this was probably the final hill. He refreshed the display, and again, and again, looked back and brought up the displays records for the last 40 seconds, and then refreshed it one more time for good measure. But, he still had the same issue, and absolutely no explanation.

Without turning, JJ addressed Vinnie over his shoulder.

"Vinnie, report to SCC…that we lost sight of the Unidentified. At 1:02:51, and at an altitude of 4500 miles, the Unidentified disappears from the screens. Request confirmation."

That took his team by surprise, and JJ was sure that they were probably flipping out just like he was, but JJ was just too mentally exhausted to care.

And he really wished that he could chalk this up to some system wide computer glitch, but he couldn't, because the wreckage from BSAT-2a was still there.

JJ fully expected to possibly die in the next few hours, convinced that in minutes the Unidentified would smash into the planet. But hours later, with the destruction of BSAT-2a confirmed, but with no explanation, and no indication that anything had hit the planet, JJ, and his team, along with the rest of the SCC were completely at a loss. There was no seismic activity in the region, no reliable reports of anything seen in the air, no change in the sea level, nothing.

And no matter what anyone said or did, all records showed that there was in fact a large high-speed unidentified object that nearly hit the planet before mysteriously disappearing, but no one had any idea what happened to it. And much later, several hours past when his shift ended, JJ was finally allowed to leave and go home.

He had spent a very long time making reports and reliving the day's events, and all he wanted to do was sleep, sleep for an entire day. And he was just about to leave the building when he remembered he had left his wallet at the poker table in his team's radar room, so he grumbled as he made his way back.

The room was dark, and sectioned off, temporarily disabled waiting for crews to disassemble every piece of equipment to look for glitches or errors. But right now it was empty and quite. JJ drank in the silence, the machines and computers were always making some form of noise, and for the room to be dead silent like this was an interesting experience. JJ walked over to his chair at the table and plopped himself down. The game in front of him was left virtually untouched since the first warning had gone off, the deck still spread across the table from when Doug dropped it, Vinnie's cards were thrown in a pile from when he folded and Harold's were in a nice stack, and Laura's were spread across the table and on the floor from when she had thrown them.

It didn't really matter anymore, the game was over, but JJ was curious about the outcome of the game. He knew it was bad form to look at the other hands, but, well, it didn't matter anymore. He got up and grabbed Harold's nice and tidy stack of cards and spread them out, face down on the table, and then did the same for Vinnie's, and Doug's, and Laura's, and then his own.

JJ idly flipped over Vinnie and Harold's cards one at a time, not that concerned with what they had, after all they had both folded, so it was unlikely they had anything interesting.

And he was right, it looked as if Harold was aiming for a flush, he had 4 diamonds, but he folded without even trying, and Vinnie had 2 pairs, Jacks and twos. Vinnie's hand wasn't great, but it might have won him the game, it's a shame he chickened out at the end.

When they were still playing, hours ago, JJ was convinced that Doug had been bluffing, and that conviction hadn't faded, so when he flipped his cards over and saw that all he had was the pair of 5s that he had from the beginning, JJ mentally smiled to himself.

And next was Laura's hand, but JJ stopped himself short, Laura's hands were always crazy, like the rules of the game didn't apply to them, she always had garbage or the most amazing hands ever. So he put her off until last and instead flipped over his own cards.

He had placed them down in order, so he knew what to expect, but there was still some small thrill as they were revealed; first the 6 of spades, then the 10 of clubs, followed by the 4 of hearts, next was the 9 of hearts, and then the 5 of clubs, and the last card that he knew for sure, the 7 of diamonds.

His original gamble had been a 12% chance, he needed a 3 or 8, but two of them were already in play, and since he had now gone through their hands, he knew that Doug had had another one, so now his odds were about 9.5%.

And without any hesitations, JJ flipped his final card and came face to face with the 3 of spades.

His strait was complete, 3-4-5-6-7, all it a nice little row, if he wasn't so tired he might have laughed, or possibly mourned the loss of the money he would have won. But instead he sat there feeling, empty, like it was a hollow victory. Like it could have been something great, but instead it turned out to be nothing; much like how the world almost ended, but then the Unidentified just disappeared. Unfulfilling, that was the word.

But at least for JJ, there was still one more obstacle to overcome, and that was Laura's hand. This was less of a hurdle to jump and more of a random chance to just fail, but JJ still flipped over her cards. First was Queen of Hearts, next came the King of Hearts, and then the 7 of Diamonds, and then the Jack of Hearts, and last of the cards he had seen, the Ace of Hearts.

Her last card was still hidden, but she already had the Ace, King, Queen, and Jack of Hearts, and with her luck, the face down would be the 10 of Hearts, a true Royal Flush, the Ultimate hand.

Ridiculous, but JJ remembered that that huge smile had remained on her face until the end, and knew that that meant she almost certainly would have completed the hand.

And when he flipped it over, and saw the 10 of Hearts, the final part of the Royal Flush, JJ just cracked up laughing. He fell back into his chair and went hysterical. Laughter really is the best medicine, and with each gasping laugh, he felt the stress bleed from his body. He laughed himself ragged, and eventually the gasping laughs came to an end, and JJ was left silently sitting in his chair, Exhausted, but in a good way.

He continued to sit there, once again just listening to the silence. Eventually he got up and went about cleaning up the room, he ordered the deck of cards and put them back on the shelves, folded up the table and chairs, emptied the forgotten pot of coffee, placed Vinnie's book, The History of Thermodynamics, beside his computer, hung up Doug San Diego Chargers' Jacket, and finally picked Laura's cosmetic bag off of the floor and put it at her workstation.

The room now cleaned and straitened up, JJ went to leave, but paused at the doorway, the day's events still fresh in his mind, ad he knew they always would be. The fear, the confusion and uncertainty, the relief, this day at work would be one of those days that, decades from now, he would tell his grandchildren about. Except that he wouldn't, he was bound by an oath of secrecy to never speak of his job under normal circumstances, and this clearly went beyond that. JJ would never share the events of the day with anyone outside of the SCC. He had no doubt he would spend the next week or so doing nothing but making reports to his superiors and other various government agencies, but after that, he would be forced to sign another secrecy oath, and his reports would be made confidential, and this incident would come to a close, at least for him. Eventually answers would be found, but they would mostly likely never be shared with him, which at this point, was something he would be totally fine with.

And then JJ flipped the light switch and the harsh fluorescent lights went off, and then the room was bathed in silenced and darkness. He turned his back and went into the hall, and then in a final, well something, perhaps a final act of release, JJ turned and slammed the door with all his might.

The aluminum door smashed into place. The bang echoed down the halls and the cheap paintings on the walls rattled. A few people poked their heads out of adjacent rooms, but seeing nothing wrong, went back to what they were doing, they were after all, very, very busy.

And with that, JJ marched out of the building, never once looking back on the room that had left such an impact on him. But if he had, if he had gone back into the room, and taken the time to look around, he might have seen something, interesting. Over by the Registry Terminal, knocked to the floor from when JJ had slammed the door, was Laura's cosmetic bag. Its contents had spilled from the open zipper at the top and an assortment of lip-sticks, eye-liners, and other beauty products were scattered about. However, those were unimportant, what would have made a difference was the deck of cards, the same make, made by the same manufacturers, and in every way identical to the ones they had been playing with. And if anyone had stopped to go through the cards, they would have seen that the deck was missing its Queen and 10 of Hearts, but that it also had a copy of it's 7 of Clubs, and 10 of Spades.

But no one did, and tomorrow crews would begin going through all of the equipment, and no one would see the identical deck that Laura had hidden in her bag.

Just like no one would know what happened to the Unidentified, or what it really was in the first place.

-Page-

January 19th, Earth, 14:48 UDT

Over an hour had passed since the first disastrous attempt at surprising Fate had ended. After the effects of the flash bang had faded and every one had recovered, and the birthday girl had made her way to the bathroom for a much needed shower, they had come to a consensus to try again. While she was occupied, the others had frantically cleaned and repaired the house, the shattered glass and wasted confetti was swept up, the balloons reset, the windows and glass shelves were magical repaired, and the smoke aired out. When they had finished, not a single thing was out of place, even the house's owner herself would be hard pressed to find something wrong.

And when Fate came out of the shower, she was again ambushed by her friends and family. The remaining confetti was tossed over her head, the balloons came down again, and everything went smoothly.

Nanoha's family had prepared dessert from the Midori-ya Cafe; instead of one large cake, they brought dozens of single slices of different kinds of cake. But before the cake, there was a normal dinner, brought over by everyone, Admiral Lindy had brought a tray of finger sandwiches, Suzuki brought a massive sushi tray, Alisa had brought something called rigatoni and meat sauce, Hayate and the rest of the Wolkenritter had prepared the standard o-bento fare, and Arf had brought boxes of dog biscuits, which she and Zafira were quietly enjoying off to the side.

After dinner, they had moved on to the actual party, the cakes were brought out, twelve in all, each with a single candle, that were all promptly blown out. Then the delicious cakes were sampled; there was Banana Crème Cake, Key Lime Pie, Strawberry shortcake, Boston Crème cake, Très Lèches cake, chocolate mousse cake, and so many others.

And then came the presents; which was the only thing familiar to Fate; she had missed her last two birthday parties, but still received presents, which was something of a new experience for her; her mother having never given her anything before. Just like the last two times, the presents flowed in, Admiral Lindy had finally caved in and imported a Mid-Childan OC200 holographic video game system, which Alisa had gotten way too excited about. Nanoha's parents had gotten her a cute little black skirt with matching boots, and her sister Miyuki, who Fate had been spending some time leaning swordsman ship from, gave her a set of specially designed Bokken. Hayate had knitted her a scarf, and along with the rest of her knights, purchased an in home Karaoke Set, Suzuka had presented her with a new cell phone to replace her old outdated one, Alisa gave her an entire makeup kit, along with a box of "Beggin Strips" dog treats as a joke. Chrono gave her a device maintenance kit, but only on the grounds that she stop calling him, Onii-san, he said it was too embarrassing. And finally Yuuno, who gave her a manual on defensive magic, which he had rightfully pointed out, was one of her weaker points.

The only one who hadn't brought a present, seemed to be Nanoha, but no one seemed to take notice of it, and that left Fate slightly puzzled.

Once the presents were given, and Fate shyly expressed her gratitude, the party began to wind down. The adults, at least Nanoha's parents, and Admiral Lindy went about cleaning up the left-over's. Miyuki and her brother Kyouya excused themselves and went back to their family's shop to close up for the night. Chrono and Yūno had to return to the Asura, which was already behind schedule for a small maintenance check. That left Fate, Nanoha, Alisa and Suzuka, Hayate, Vita, Shamal, Signum, Arf and Zafira to lounge around the living area. Tea was served, and the group, wrapped up in blankets and quilts, cuddled into the furniture. With a small fire quietly crackling in the fireplace adding it's warmth to the rapidly cooling home, the group began catching up with each other.

"Fate-Chan, Nanoha-Chan, will you be coming to school more frequently now?"

"Yeah, what's with all the missions you two have been going on? You're missing way to many days; the homeroom teacher is getting concerned. You too Hayate, I know you're in a different class, but you miss more than those two."

The first to speak was Suzuka, always one to be concerned about her friends, and the second was Alisa, hiding her concern behind her gruff demeanor and converting it into annoyance.

"Nyahaha, is Yuzuki-sensei stressing out about our absences again? Well I don't know about Fate-Chan and Hayate-Chan, but I don't have any training schedules for about two weeks, so I will be coming to school every day, unless an emergency pops up."

"Nanoha-Chan, she worries about you."

"Yeah, she thinks you and Fate are becoming delinquents, skipping school all the time."

Nanoha laughed along with Alisa at that comment, but Fate seemed concerned.

"I thought our absences were excused? I was planning on going every day for about a week, but then I have a few days to finish a training regimen and take an exam, do you think I should reschedule the training and come to school more?"

"Fate-Chan, I think the excuse the school was given was that you had a sick relative who you were taking care of; while the school accepted it, it's not very believable."

"Suzuka-Chan is right, it's not a very good excuse, but it gets the job done, at least for now."

Hayate paused and seemed to think something over to herself before continuing.

"I don't know about Nanoha-Chan and Fate-Chan, but I was thinking that at the end of the school year, I might drop out."

The others all had various degrees of surprise shown on their face, the lone exceptions were the Wolkenritter, who carefully tried to hide their disapproval, and Nanoha, who was oddly expressionless.

"Hayate-Chan, how long have you been thinking about this?"

"Yeah, you can't drop out after you finish elementary school."

"Well, I am still not sure. If I start focusing now it will give me a good head start, and school isn't going to be as useful as I would like. I am thinking of moving to Mid, besides you, Suzuka-Chan and Alisa-Chan, I have no real ties to any one on Earth anymore."

The shock on their faces only increased with that comment.

"Hayate-Chan, I am working on the Navy Enforce program, and I have enough time to keep working with school. I don't think you should give up."

"I know, I know Fate-Chan, but there is no real reason for me to stay any longer. I know what I want to do with my future now, we've talked about it before, and moving to Mid and working entirely towards the command track in the ground forces is the best course of action."

Fate paused, seeing the logic in what Hayate had said, but Suzuka and Alisa took up the argument in her stead.

"What about your legs? Ishida-sensei said it could still be almost two years until they fully heal."

"Yeah, and what about your… your house and…your other things?"

Alisa trailed off, unable to find actual reasons as to why this was a bad idea, but irritated none the less.

"Without school I would have more time to work on rehabilitation and I would be able to combine that with a magical based treatment. Shamal thinks that if we really focused I could recover almost all of the damage within a year if we focused on it more."

For the first time since the conversation had started Shamal looked up from the book she had been reading to voice her opinion.

"It's true that you could be back to 100% within a year, but that would require a lot more rehabilitation than what we are currently doing now, and I don't necessarily recommend that. I think you should take your time healing; there is no need to rush it. And as I have also said, I don't think you should leave Earth regardless of your healing, this is your home, and you should enjoy the time you have here."

"I know, but as I have also said before, I really want to get started now, I want to be working hard for my goals, and right now I feel… I feel like I am just wasting time. Our house is just that, a building, and one we barely even use anymore. There is almost nothing left keeping me here, Nanoha-Chan has her family, and both her and Fate-Chan have class with all of you, but I was always alone until I met everyone here."

Everyone quieted down at Hayate's words, their rebuttals seemingly superficial when compared to her reasons. It was Suzuka that spoke first.

"If this is what Hayate-Chan thinks is best, then this is what you should do. I've known since that time in the library when we first met, that Hayate-Chan is very mature and determined."

Shamal looked taken aback by Suzuka's sagely words, even Signum and Vita, who hadn't contributed to the conversation, seemed to be viewing the situation in a new light. However, Alisa was quick to jump in and denounce what Suzuka had said.

"Suzuka, how can you say that? Aren't you the one who became friends with Hayate first? Wont you be upset if she leaves? Who knows when or how often we will be able to see her then. Even Fate and Nanoha think this is bad idea. I mean what about…"

"That's not true."

Alisa trailed off as Nanoha spoke up for the first time in a while.

"What do you mean? What's not true?"

Nanoha paused and bent to pick up her tea and took a quick sip while marshaling her thoughts. While still holding her cup she responded.

"I don't think it's a bad idea, in fact I agree with her."

Now everyone was staring at Nanoha, Alisa was obviously not expecting that, and was now at a loss for words. Eventually Signum asked the question that everyone had been meaning to ask.

"What do you mean?"

Nanoha took another sip, noting that Admiral Lindy seemed to have put crème, and perhaps cinnamon in the black tea, it was weird, but not necessarily bad, and then she gently placed her cup back down on the tiny dish that went with the set.

"I agree with Hayate-Chan, and I am considering doing the same."

"You What?"

Alisa was getting heated now, her outburst slightly louder than it should have been, and it drew the attention of those in the kitchen. Momoko poked her head out from around the kitchen doorway, but seeing nothing amiss; she turned and went back in.

Everyone seemed to sense, wisely, that talking about it in front of the parents was a bad idea, so the conversation simmered down until it was clear the Momoko had started cleaning again.

"Alisa-Chan…"

"No, don't Alisa-Chan me. If Hayate wants to drop out of school and… and do whatever it is that you guys keep going away for, then it isn't my place to say anything. But you, we've been friends for how long now? And you've been thinking about dropping out of school, and moving to another planet? How can you decide that without even discussing it with us? I know we won't have any say in what you do, but how can you not even say anything to us about it? We're friends aren't we?"

As Alisa's increasingly upset outburst ended and silence once again filled the space between the girls, Nanoha leaned back in the sofa and stared up into the ceiling, idly watching the shadows cast from the fire.

Truthfully, Nanoha had only considered the idea of leaving Earth recently, and she hadn't put much thought into it, yet. But the more she did consider it, the more reasonable it seemed, and hearing that Hayate had also been thinking about it had moved it into sharper focus.

Nanoha deliberately drew her words out slowly while still looking up towards the roof.

"It's just… it's not something I have been thinking about much… it's just a thought that I've been toying around with. I do think it's a good idea, especially for Hayate-Chan, but also for me too."

"And what makes you…"

"Alisa-Chan, stop."

Suzuka's normally calm and gentle voice was now firm and slightly harsh. She lightly reached out and pulled Alisa back into the couch they had been sitting in before continuing.

"Nanoha-Chan, perhaps if you shared with us your reasons it would make things a little more clear, and alleviate some of our concerns. You too, Hayate-Chan, even I am a little upset about this."

Since Nanoha seemed to be planning her words with her head still back, Hayate spoke first.

"There just really isn't any reason for me to stay here anymore, and every reason for me to leave. Nanoha-Chan still has family so it's different for her, but I understand what she wants to do."

"And that is? Something that you need to leave Earth for? And what are these reasons? What about school? Don't you need to go to school?"

"No, No we don't."

Since the conversation had started, Fate had remained silent, mostly because she wasn't sure what to think. But now she had something to add, so she answered Alisa's question.

"I love our school, our classmates, and even Yuzuki-sensei. I have fun going and learning, but, everything we learn is…"

Fate trailed off, but Nanoha, who was still staring at the ceiling, finished her thought.

"Useless."

"…yeah…Any class specific to Japan won't help us, Japanese literature and history are just a waste of time. Even language, Japanese isn't even recognized as a spoken language, and English is more of a novelty than anything else."

"Hold on, I heard your… magic staff, talk in English before. Why's that?"

"Yeah, it said 'Defenser Plus' or something."

"Suzuka-Chan, Alisa-Chan that's because you aren't Mages."

"Hayate-Chan, I don't understand how our inability to use magic would make us hear English."

From her position on the sofa, Nanoha sighed heavily before addressing Hayate.

"Go ahead. Tell them."

"Tell us what?"

"That the three of us no longer know how to speak Japanese."

Suzuka and Alisa just blinked as they tried to wrap their heads around that. That somehow, the three people who they were currently in the middle of speaking too, in Japanese, somehow were unable to speak the language.

They both made no progress.

"I…we don't understand."

Nanoha sighed again and then leaned forward, facing her friends again.

"You don't hear it, but we are all speaking Mid-Childan right now. Mid's language is actually a spell, one that conveys meaning. We mean to speak in Japanese, but instead it comes out in Mid-Childan, but because you can only fluently speak Japanese, the spell conveys the meaning to you in the language you know, so Japanese."

"Nanoha-Chan said it well, Mid-Childan is a universal language, as long as the person we are talking to has any kind of spoken language, they will be able to understand us, and as long as the language is downloaded into our devices, or if it's one we already know, we can understand everything they say. It even works for machines and computers. A computer is designed to work in a certain language so it 'hears' us speak in that language."

"And the reason you thought Bardiche spoke in English is because you couldn't understand the full meaning of what he said, so you get an approximation in his default language, which for Mid-Childan devices, is English. Fate-Chan and I could understand him, but because you don't 'speak' Mid-Childan, you only heard the English."

Suzuka seemed to be pondering the meaning of this; that somehow her three friends sitting across from her were speaking in gibberish, but she was hearing fluent Japanese. Alisa however, just took it at face value.

"So, shouldn't those classes be super easy for you? Why are you barely passing them?"

"If the tests were just to repeat lines, or write sentences, we would pass them easily, but errors and incorrect grammar don't translate well. And to actually see the sentence as 'Japanese' requires an awful lot of effort, and we can easily slip and go back to seeing it as Mid-Childan without even realizing it."

"Not to mention that Fate-Chan and Nanoha-Chan are barely even studying it anymore, our problems come from being able to speak Mid-Childan, not a lack of knowledge. And they have been studying to learn how to speak Belkan."

"Belkan?"

Both Suzuka and Alisa asked at the same time, and since Hayate was the Belkan expert, having synchronized with the Book of Darkness, she answered.

"Belkan is the language of the old Belkan Empire; the TSAB that we work for is made out of parts of old Belka, when their civilization collapsed. Belkan is another type of Magic language. It's much more secretive than Mid-Childan. If I don't allow you to understand what I am saying, you won't be able to, normally. If you're a powerful mage, or very skilled in linguistic magic, you can force my words to be heard, but otherwise you won't hear a thing."

"What do you mean we won't hear anything?"

Hayate sorta chuckled to herself, remembering the first time she tried this trick on Nanoha and Fate, without telling them she alternated allowing them to hear her words, both of them were at a loss, but eventually Fate figured it out, probably because she knew more magic history than Nanoha did.

"For example"

Hayate stood and directly faced Suzuka and Alisa.

"…"

And then she sat back down.

"You, you didn't say anything. You just stood up and then sat back down."

Hayate laughed to herself while Nanoha and Fate lightly giggled, even the Wolkenritter flashed small smiles.

"Ok, this time I will let Alisa hear it. 'Das letzte Mal konnte niemand hört mich, dieses Mal können Sie, aber Suzuka kann nicht' there, how's that? You heard it that time right?"

"Yeah, that was German, I think, maybe Russian? So?"

"Wait, you heard that Alisa-Chan? I didn't hear anything."

"This time Suzuka will hear it, 'Und jetzt können Sie mich hören, aber Alisa ist in der Dunkelheit.' see? Belkan language is very similar to an archaic form of German. But because it's magical in nature, you can't learn it in the same way as you would with a normal language. "

"Hayate-Chan learned it and Mid-Childan when she synchronized with Rein for the first time. But Nanoha-Chan and I have to go through the process of reciting a very long verbal spell, with perfect accuracy. We are both about halfway done, but we still have a long way to go."

"But why are you even bothering to learn it if you already have a 'Super Language?' doesn't it seem pointless to learn two?"

"Alisa-Chan is right, it does seem silly."

"It's for our careers."

"Huh?"

"Belkan is more secretive, so a lot of politicians use it when discussing sensitive things; also it's sometimes used to convey military orders and the like. But most importantly, the Saint Church almost exclusively speaks Belkan, and we spend a lot of time working with them, since Hayate-Chan posses a rare Belkan artifact."

"Oh…"

The discussion enter a sorta of lull, Alisa and Suzuka considering what had been said so far, and the others getting ready to answer more questions. Hayate seemed calm, obviously having had this conversation with the Wolkenritter before, now used to the familiar point and counter point that the conversation was turning into. Fate seemed slightly nervous, probably because she hadn't realized that either of her fellow mages were considering this, but seeing the logic in both arguments. And Nanoha, she went back to staring at the ceiling, seemingly deeply in thought. Prior to today, she hadn't really considered the idea, she had played around with it, considered some pros and some cons, but hadn't really figured if it was actually something she wanted to do. But now, having heard Hayate talk about it, and being forced to defend her position, she had started to really consider it.

"Wait, that doesn't matter. Just continue on with what you're doing and keep going to school. You need science and math and such where you're going right?"

Nanoha was about to answer, but instead Fate beat her to it.

"Yes and no. We do need math, magical formula, incantations, and arrays are all heavily based in mathematics, but it's much more advanced than what we are doing in class. Just being able to cast any magic causes you to quickly grasp math much faster than normal. Here, look."

Fate leaned closer out of the fluffy recliner she had been huddled in and extended her arm. Three bright yellow rings formed on her arm, once behind her elbow, one in the middle of her forearm, and one at her wrist. Each ring spun at the same speeds and in the same direction and contained complex magical formulas; each had two separate formulas, one upside down and the other right side. Then, in front of her hand, a small golden magical circle, only about a foot and a half across, flared into existence. Inside of the circle were two identical squares, each rotating in opposite directions, and inside of that was another circle. Each circle spun, the central smaller one spun faster, and each contained the same formula from the smaller rings.

"See, the speed of the rotation of the 3 rings has to be carefully controlled, along with their radius from my arm. Also, if you look close, the Formulas inside are actually rotating at different speeds, and the middle ring's is moving in the opposite direction. And the main circle is the same, the two squares need to be timed up and kept at the right size, they also have to connect to the circles at specific points, so those have to spin at the same exact speeds. It's all very complex geometry, and the formula themselves are basically advanced algebra."

Fate canceled the spell the spell now that her demonstration was done, first the magical circle blinked out of existence, and then the three rings slowly faded away into nothingness. Now that she didn't have enough magical energy to destroy the entire building stored in her arm, Fate leaned back into the sofa and wrapped herself back up in the blankets. Once she was comfortable, she continued where she had left off.

"All that has to be done instantaneously while we prepare the spell. And we can't focus entirely on the array; some spells also require verbal incantations, and most of our spells end up using even more arrays. That would have been a relatively weak Thunder Smasher, but if I wanted to increase the power I could have added another full array under my feet."

"Also, Fate-Chan didn't plan on firing that, but if she had she would have needed to create powerful anti-feedback fields on herself to protect against the recoil and ambient energy that it would give off."

"Not to mention that she would be casting that while already maintaining many other personal field spells, and probably a Flight spell, and those are all very complicated. And she would be doing all of this while fighting something else. She needs to be able to make those arrays without even thinking about it."

Suzuka and Alisa seemed to be deep in thought, both of them knew that their friends were Mages, and they thought that they knew what that meant, but apparently they didn't fully understand what that actually meant. They knew that they spent almost all of their free time training somewhere, either by themselves or taking courses so they could be officially recognized as cadets. And that they routinely went on missions that took them to other planets, but until now, they had never really thought about what any of that meant to them.

Finally Alisa just gave up. She put the small plate of cookies she had been snacking on down on the coffee table, perhaps a little harder than was necessary, then threw off the wool blankets that had been covering her, stood up, and went over to get the TV remote.

"Fine. Whatever. If you guys are all going to move to some other planet that's fine. None of my business. From what you said, you're right; there is no reason for you to stay. Do whatever you want."

"Alisa-Chan…"

"No, its fine. Don't worry about it. Do whatever you want. I don't care. Now I want to watch this Anime, it starts in a minute."

Alisa returned back to the couch she and Suzuka had been sharing, flopped back down and then buried herself in the blankets, she even pulled one over her head.

"Alisa-Chan…"

"Suzuka, I'm fine. I just want to watch this show."

Suzuka moved slightly and rested her shoulder on the bundle of blankets that was Alisa. The mages and knights in the room all looked away and found seemingly mundane things to be fascinating all off a sudden. Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate all turned to watch the TV that Alisa had just turned on, and were all surprised to see nothing but static.

"Fate-Chan, I think your TV is broken."

"I know it worked fine the last time I was home, that was…Tuesday…I think…"

"Maybe the Flash bangs from earlier knocked something loose?"

"Actually, I was wondering, what exactly happened with them?"

The pink haired knight, who had been sitting off to the side reading, visibly blushed at that comment.

"I was told that 'Party Favors' were like miniature flash bangs. So I bought low grade civilian use flash bangs from this mail order catalog."

Signum got up and handed Hayate the magazine she had been reading. On its front were the words, "Frankie & Randolph's Revolutionist catalog, on sale this week only, authentic Israeli gas masks offering complete NBC protection for only 44.99."

The three mages stared at the front cover, at a loss for words. Hayate slowly flipped through the mail order catalog, each page showing things like, refurbished AR-15 assault rifles, tear gas, an insurgency guide, direction on the home production of landmines, a book titled, "Know your enemy, standard police and Swat tactics," and on the last page, was an add offering to sell an old American Sherman tank, price negotiable.

"Signum, where exactly did you get this at? I think almost everything in it illegal in Japan."

"I went to Okinawa and got it from someone named, "Ben." I had to order it through him too; he said they wouldn't ship to Japan. I wasn't aware that this planet repressed its people to the extent that smuggling operations had to form just to ensure the basic safety of the people."

"Signum-san, these things are dangerous, regular people do not need a, Lahti L-39 anti-tank rifle. These things are restricted to protect the safety of the average person."

"That "Ben" person is probably an American soldier, although how he managed to get you these is anyone's guess. What he did was definitely illegal. Signum, don't buy anything else from this guy. I know you won't hurt anyone with it, and that if you wanted too, Levantine would do the job better so that the guns are pointless, but it leaves a paper trail to us, and that's not good."

"Understood, mistress. I am sorry about this mistake"

"Its fine, no harm. It's just if someone starts looking into it, they will quickly discover that you guys don't exist anywhere. As long as no one doubts it, the story about you being distant cousins works, but that will unraveled real quickly if someone snoops around for a little bit. And there is really no solution for that problem; we'd have to run away."

"I apologize mistress."

"It's ok, just be a good kid from now on. No more illegal military hardware, especially in other people's houses."

As she was speaking, Hayate leaned forward and awkwardly patted Signum on the head. The knight, an ancient program of war, looked down and blushed in embarrassment, not so much because of the awkwardness of the situation, but because she genuinely enjoyed the interaction.

"Umm… About the TV, it still doesn't work, and Alisa-Chan's show is on."

The three mages turned to face Suzuka and Alisa, who had both momentarily been forgotten in their silence. With their attention distracted, Signum took her catalog and slipped back into her perch in the rocking chair by the fire.

"Oh yeah, sorry Alisa-Chan, Suzuka-Chan, I'll check the wires, see if anything is loose."

While Fate went over and crawled behind the TV, Nanoha studied her two oldest friends. Suzuka seemed…quiet, more so than normal. Depressed would be taking it too far, and she didn't seem sad, it was more like subdued. She was still leaning up against Alisa, her shoulder resting against the other girls.

And as for Alisa, she was still wrapped in blankets. It was cold, but not that much, Alisa had to be uncomfortably warm wrapped in that much wool. Her face was still obscured by the blankets, hidden in shadows that would have prevented someone from seeing her, but to at least Nanoha, who's eyesight was greatly enhanced due to her magic, slight shadows and dim darkness were practically unnoticeable. She suspected that Fate, Hayate, and her knights could also see just as well, and they were all just politely not mentioning it. If Alisa was already upset, and was going to the lengths of hiding in blankets so as to hide her tears, than no one was going to tell her that her attempts at hiding were for naught.

For possibly the first time ever, Nanoha cursed her magic talents.

On that night, almost 3 years ago, when she had heard Yuuno's telepathic cries for help, her life had irreversibly changed. Discovering her magic had opened a door, allowed her to grasp a future for herself. It gave her a direction, purpose, meaning; things she had always felt were missing from her life, but she couldn't put the emptiness she had felt into words.

But even with her new found power, she had still been aimless, unsure of how exactly to proceed. That loneliness from before, instead of disappearing, had only been amplified. When before, she had felt out of place, like a rock in a river, the water crashed into the stone, but just washing over it, leaving the stone trapped in place, unable to follow the water to its destination, whatever, or wherever that may be. But once she discovered magic, she realized she was fundamentally different, she wasn't a rock, stuck in place, she was an observer standing on the bank, still unable to follow the flow, but now, even unable to come in contact with the water. She had been so utterly alone then, the solitude had a soul crushing finality that almost swallowed her, but instead she threw herself into her task of collecting the Jewel Seeds. If it wasn't for that, and Yuuno's constant reminder that she wasn't entirely alone, the gaping black maul of loneliness would have consumed her.

And then she meant Fate. Another human, another mage, another nine year old girl, struggling under the weight of her identity. When she had first met her, Nanoha had recognized the shadows in the other girls eyes, that dark abyss of loneliness that had haunted her eyes, just like Nanoha's, even her posture and body radiated sadness. Nanoha had impulsively and instinctively pursued her, recognizing her as a kindred spirit. At first, Fate had spurned her efforts, a wall of duty and obligation preventing her from making a connection to Nanoha, but eventually, the wall crumbled and they finally met as people, not opponents on the field of battle, and they just simply talked.

Fate then became a friend, a partner, a confident, a comrade, and so much more. Fate, like Nanoha, was an incomplete person, lacking a complete identity, a purpose, always wandering aimlessly, or at the whims of another. And together, they supported each other, using their strengths to compliment the other, to fill in the missing gaps. Together, they could be whole people, with meaning and direction.

But that was 3 years ago now, and after they had become friends, they had encounter Hayate, another similar being. Cursed with a weakened body, and with the same solitude that had come to dominate Nanoha's and Fate's lives, Hayate was very similar to them, but she had the Wolkenritter. Her knights, her family, her children as she called them; they filled the gaps in her heart, made her complete. In many ways Hayate was more mature than Fate and Nanoha, maybe because her problem had an actual physical manifestation in the form of her weakening body; Hayate was better able to come to terms with it. Whereas Nanoha agonized over her loneliness, but was unable to pinpoint exactly what bothered her, Hayate could see her deficiency for what it was, and then work with it. By the time they had meet each other, Hayate had recovered further than Nanoha and Fate had, she was already moving on to a new future while they were still nursing wounds.

Eventually, they recovered and moved on as well and all three of them began working with the TSAB. They even had a small outline of a long term plan, so they all moved towards their goals. Every day, they happily moved forward, afraid that if the idled, they would stagnate and get left behind again.

But that constant progress, the never ending march forward, apparently had consequences. It was obvious now, that instead of rejoining the river with everyone else, Nanoha had left that path behind and embarked on a new one, one that was currently, and would even more in the future, take her further and further away from her friends and family.

Suzuka and Alisa had been her closest friends for as long as she could remember, in fact, they were her only friends, and that was another one of her failings. Her two friends, they are the ones who made the friendship work, keeping Nanoha engaged and connected, otherwise she would have stayed in place while they drifted away. And for all their loyalty, for all that time spent slowing themselves down to drag her along with them, Nanoha was going to respond by leaving them behind, to spurn their help and turn away from them.

While that fact upset her, and she did feel guilty, it was something that couldn't be helped. Nanoha was no longer able to follow them, caught in the tides, unable to turn away from the new path she had forged. She understood that it was inevitable, Earth had become a cage, one that she would eventually leave, but her friends, they would stay; they were just as powerless to follow Nanoha as she was to follow them.

Nanoha knew that they would part, but it didn't have to be an absolute parting, she didn't need to cut ties completely, they could still stay connected. And fortune was on their side; Suzuka was the heir from a well established and wealthy family, and Alisa was the heir to a huge communications conglomerate, both had potential to help the TSAB. When the two took over their families, Suzuka's contacts in the political world and Alisa's contacts to the business world could prove invaluable to the TSAB as civilian contractors.

Of course, that wasn't going to happened, if it ever did, now, or even soon. It would come much later, at least not until they took over their families and she had formed a place for herself in the TSAB. For now they would drift apart, but later, under their own power, they would bridge the gap and reunite. That's why she was considering moving from earth, the sooner she cemented herself within the TSAB, the sooner she would have the ability to go back to Suzuka and Alisa.

But that was talk for the future, and now, her diverging path was causing her friends pain. She understood that they would both eventually come around and see the benefits of her leaving Earth, because it really was in her best interests, and once she calmed down, Alisa would realize that too.

It was unfortunate, but that was just a part of growing up, eventually there would be partings, and as sad as it was, there was really nothing that could be done about it. Nanoha knew and understood that, but that didn't make her feel any better about it, she still felt the guilt. And she was genuinely sorry that she was hurting her friends, but what was really upsetting her, and making her curse her magic, was the invasion of Alisa's privacy she was currently committing; and unable to stop.

When she had first become a mage, Nanoha was immediately awed by how powerful she had felt. She had no one to compare too, so she didn't know exactly how strong she was, or how much raw mana she possessed, but she could feel the strength coursing through her body. When she put Raising Heart back into standby and powered down, she had always assumed she had returned to normal, but it wasn't until much later that she realized that she hadn't. In the same way that you don't notice yourself growing taller until you look at something and say, "Wow, last year I couldn't look over this counter, and now I am a head taller than it," Nanoha hadn't known that as she developed her magic, she was also physically becoming stronger. Now, it took actual concentration to not crush things she held, to not break the ground as she stepped across it, to not hurl a pen through the wall when her classmate asked her to "Toss" it to her, to not accidentally initiate a Flash Move when she meant to run. And that was just the physical power side of things, her vision, her hearing, her sense of scent, even her ability to feel air currents had increased exponentially. Now she could hear a chopstick falling in the crowded cafeteria, and immediately pinpoint its location, not to mention she could hear, and keep track of every conversation happening. She could see in anything less than absolute darkness, read manga over peoples shoulders, from across the street, she could even pick out individual people on trains as the speed past.

All of which meant, that she could clearly see Alisa as she huddled under the blankets, softly swiping away the tears as their made their trek down her cheeks, she could clearly hear as she struggled to choke back small sobs.

Alisa was crying, and her pride was forcing herself to hid it, and Nanoha was watching her as plain as day. Her magic was preventing her from allowing her friend the dignity to cry in private, and she didn't even know it. Nanoha was currently acting like some creepy stalker, peering in from the bushes at her friends, and she hated every minute of it.

And there was nothing she could do about it; she couldn't tone down her vision and hearing, she couldn't leave the room, and she obviously couldn't mention it to Alisa, what would she say? "Alisa-Chan, I just want you to know that I can completely see through your attempts at hiding your tears, I suggest you go into another room, oh wait, I could probably still hear you, why don't you just go outside?"

No, that clearly wasn't an option. In fact, she had no options other than pretend to not notice, which she noticed everyone else was doing. Signum seemed to be able to ignore it completely, along with Zafira, the two of them were oblivious. Arf was too busy eating another box of dog biscuits to notice, but Shamal and Vita, both of which were off to the side, kept pausing in their reading and shooting glances at the couple huddled in the couch. Even Hayate, who was attempting to help Fate fix the TV, seemed oddly stiff and was refusing to look in their general direction.

What she wanted more than anything; was a distraction. Anything to occupy her attention, hopefully long enough to let Alisa calm down, but at this point, she would take any reprieve she could get.

And as luck would have it, she immediately got her wish.

A low chime echoed out through the house, initially catching everyone off guard. It took her awhile to figure out what exactly made that sound, and right as she was about to nail it down, Arf beat her too it. The familiar forced down another mouthful of doggy treats and called out to Fate, who was currently still behind the TV, but was working her way out.

"Oooo, Fate, Hey Fate. It's the doorbell; can I go see who it is?"

Instead of answering her familiar, at least verbally, Fate drew her magic into herself; instinctively and immediately covering herself in various Strengthening and Defensive Fields. With each Field that went up, a pulse of magical energy rolled off of her and washed into the others, and this time there wasn't a powerful barrier blocking it, so all of the mages and knights in the room picked up on it.

Like a set of dominoes falling over, Fate's spells set off a chain reaction, the others all started throwing their own Fields up and moving into more aggressive combative stances. The Wolkenritter all immediately took of protective stances around Hayate, who's only change was to sit up straighter. Arf, who now realized something was wrong, maintained her human form for the moment, but crouched low, ready to pounce towards the door.

And Nanoha also moved into action, she shot up out of her seat while calling up her own defensive fields, and stood in-front of Alisa and Suzuka, ready to shield them from just about anything.

With eight different Ace class mages, and one Ace class Familair all quickly maximizing their defenses, and none of them being subtle about it, the room quickly became flooded with ambient magical energy, so much so that even non-mages, like Alisa and Suzuka, could feel it, and it was not a pleasant feeling.

When the first of Fate's Fields activated and the pulse spread out, it was like getting a small chill, like when the wind blows on your neck, you reflexively shiver for a second. But as the pulses increased, and started coming from different directions and sources, the effect quickly escalated. Now the two felt as if they were locked in a room with a large predator, a lion or a bear, and that it was watching them, stalking them, ready to pounce and devour them. The threat of impending violence was almost a physical force, pushing them down, stifling their breath. Their Fight of Flight reflex was screaming at them to turn and run, but with no source of fear, nothing to actually flee from, they just froze up in their spots, not moving a muscle, not even breathing for fear that any movement would trigger the hidden beast to strike.

Until Nanoha moved in-front of them. Once she got there she flexed her own magical aura out and used it to cover them, diverting the waves of pure power radiating from the others. Not satisfied just blocking that, she also called up a few defensive fields and placed them over top of her friends, and then surrounded them with an invisible barrier, and then as an afterthought, summoned four Axel Shooter orbs behind the sofa they were sharing; just in case.

Now no longer being crushed by the still increasing magical energies in the room, Alisa recovered enough to move. First she nudged Suzuka back, deeper into the blankets, and then moved slightly forward and in-front of her, attempting to protect her from whatever had left them trembling. Once she was confident that she was doing her upmost to keep her friend safe, she attempted to ask something, but instead choked on her own words. After a few dry gasps for air, she managed to croak out some words; whether her voice was ragged due to her previous crying, or the ordeal she was currently in, Nanoha couldn't say.

"What, what's going on? What… What was… What just happened?"

Nanoha winced at her friend's voice, she sounded very haggard, but she couldn't spare her a glance, and answered curtly over her shoulder without taking her eyes off of the door in the foyer.

"Sorry, Not sure. Don't move, and do NOT get off of the couch. If anything happens, I'll take you out. We'll go right through that wall and then strait out. Don't worry, I, we, won't let anything happen."

Nanoha intended to calm them down with that assurance, but the fact that the first plan was to break through a wall and leave a fifty story building was not something that inspires confidence, and the two girls huddled on the couch acted appropriately. Once Nanoha moved to shield them, and the onslaught of magic stopped, they were mainly feeling relief, relief that whatever was doing that to them had stopped, and that feeling of relief had just been replaced with extreme panic. But before they could say anything else, the door chimed again.

Without a word, Fate slowly but surely walked over to the door. To a casual observer, it would seem that she was walking leisurely, taking her time while she strolled over to the door, however, to the expert eyes of the people in the room, Fate was a loaded weapon, seconds from going off. Every muscle in her body was pulled taught in anticipation, Fate, like everyone else in the room, was ready, to without a moment's hesitation, unload enough firepower on that door to level the building.

Once she got to the door, she momentarily paused. Just long enough to sense the auras of her friends, never once taking her eyes of the door. Confident that they were all as ready as they were going to be, she reached forward the doorknob and gently turned it, and then slowly, very slowly pulled the door open.

And came face to face with a man, a strange man she had never met before. He was old, past his 60's, possibly well past his 60's. He wore a full black suit, a white shirt covered in a gray vest peaked out from his partially opened jacket, he even had a matching top hat and a gold handled cane. The hair that was visible was a salt and pepper gray, and it matched his well trimmed bushy mustache. His face was wrinkled and pale, but without any blemishes, and his nose was slightly bent, as if it was broken once in his youth and was never corrected. He wore a monocle over his left eye, which slightly obscured his brilliant blue eyes.

He was the perfect image of a charming English gentleman from the turn of the last century, and his completely disarming demeanor almost allowed Fate to relax, almost.

Then, seeing that she had opened the door, he smiled, a full face smile that seemed to show nothing but joy, his eyes sparkled and for a moment, Fate thought she was gazing into an ocean.

Her first thought after opening the door was,

[His eyes are just like Nanoha's.]

With Fate's momentary lapse in attention, the man swiftly swept his hat off of his head and bent into a half bow. From his bent position he addressed the girl in the door.

"Ah Miss Fate Testarossa-Harlaown I presume? Is your mother, Admiral Lindy in?"

His voice was like a harp, each syllable a beautiful ringing that flowed like water and gently wrapped Fate in its embrace.

However, she was still cautious, and just because he knew who she was and who Admiral Lindy was, didn't mean he was harmless, Even if he seemed to be exactly that. But she sensed almost no magic from him, he did have a magical aura that any mage would have, but he had no active spells. Unsure of exactly how to proceed, she fell back to the basics of what to do in this type of situation.

"May I ask why? And who is inquiring?"

"It's a rather urgent matter, and as I can see from the static on that television, the issue is quite important."

Fate, and everyone else turned to look at the TV, attempting, but not succeeding at seeing the connection. Fate turned back to the man and was about to speak, but before she could, he answered her second question from before.

"Oh, and tell the good Admiral that I am Vice Admiral Markely of 11t fleet's disaster management section. We have an emergency situation."

-Page-

**Universal Dimensional Time. (UDT)**

UDT is how the TSAB, Irlian Empire, Free Trade Union, and the Allied States keep track of time. It's based off of the degradation of dimensional partials, and is exactly constant.

There are no time zones, or any other variations to it, if its 14:45 on Mid-Childa, it's the same time on Earth, Oridian, Taleron, and any other planets.

For the sake of simplicity in the story, UDT works on a 24 hour 60 minute 60 second scale, which doesn't make tons of sense, but is easier than dealing with something that has 20 hour days, 50 minute hours and 50 minute seconds. Also, UDT doesn't match with local times, so it may be 20:30 UDT and on the American eastern coast, 4:33 EST.

-Break-

**Emergency Naval Protocol M Series**

A grouping of computer commands installed in most ships, civilian or military that travel within TSAB jurisdiction. The M series is relatively new, and some ships haven't made the upgrade. The TSAB offers incentives to ship owners and captains to install the series, but also allows temporary pardons for smaller ships, or financially strapped captains.

The M series are basically remote commands, each one able to be initiated by outside sources, usually TSAB ships or basses.

M-20 Forces a signal link to the ship in question. M-20 has to be used to allow the others to work; it's basically opening the door for the others.

M-21 opens up audio communications with the target, both allowing the TSAB to speak too, and hear anything happening on the ship.

M-22 is similar to M-21, but involves video communications. Not all ships are equipped with the necessary equipment to display holo images, nor are all ships covered in cameras that can report back.

M-23 blocks all command functions from the inside of the ship, preventing the crew from doing higher level tasks. Doors will still open and communications will still work, but actually control of the ship, and any weapons will be locked out.

M-24 gives the functions that M-23 blocks, to the controller, allowing the TSAB to remotely control the ship. M-24 is used when ships are abandoned or their crews are incapacitated. M-24 is almost always used with M-23 already active; otherwise the crew could just reassert control.

M-25 is an advanced version of M-23, in addition to blocking command functions; it locks down all aspects of the ship, preventing the crew from doing anything.

M-26 causes the ship in question to power down its main engines, switching to batteries to maintain minimal life support.

M-27 is the final M series code, and it causes the ship to self destruct. Use of M-27 is limited to a very select few TSAB officers.

-Break-

**Ovila**

A commercial transport craft owned by Veriz-Tech industries, a small defense contractor based on Genurd.

-Break-

**Outpost Sierra-10**

TSAB long range monitoring Outpost. The TSAB has thousands of these varying in size and complexity. Basically the monitoring stations are positioned in places that the TSAB doesn't have a real presence, either legitimate star basses, or controlled planets. The outposts have limited military forces and are only used to monitor and maintain the far flung reaches of the TSAB's space.

Outpost Sierra-10 is unique due to its relatively small size and unimportance, but the fact that it has state of the art equipment and is considered very luxurious to work on.

Captain Gene Jackard is the commanding officer of Sierra-10

-Break-

**Jackard, Gene, Captain, Human **

Born April 2nd, 1963.

Captain Jackard is a career military officer in the TSAB. He has served for over 10 years in the officer corps and rose in the ranks slowly. He is very dedicated to his job and his position.

-Break-

**Shana, Corvette. TSAB **

A small TSAB patrol vessel, Corvette class, the Shana along with the Tririox, are both stationed within Sector Sierra.

-Break-

**Tririox, Corvette. TSAB**

Another small patrol vessel, that along with the Shana, patrols Sector Sierra.

-Break-

**Clasencia, Corvette, Medical Ship. TSAB**

TheClasencia is an emergency medical ship, she only has token weapons and little shields or armor, but she has a massive high tech medical bay designed for emergency medical treatment.

-Break-

**S-Line/Satellite Line.**

The S-Line is a term that refers to the position of satellites around a planet. It usually refers to the point that said satellites can sense or target something, not the actually point where the satellites sit.

-Break-

**Markly, Winston. Admiral. Human.**

Admiral Winston Markly is the commanding officer of Mobile Section 2. What exactly he does, or what his section does, is currently unknown. Markly seems to have some grasp of Transformation Magic, able to alter his appearance. The fact that his true appearance is also an unknown, means that there is no reliable data on his age, or any other physical characteristics.

-Break-

**Transformation Magic.**

An odd type of magic that is not unique to Belka or Mid-Childan styles of magic. Transformation magic alters the targets physical characteristics, usually used for espionage to alter appearances. However, transformation magic can be used to more radically change a physical body, and is able to harden skin and bones, restructure internal organs. It can even do more extreme things, like doubling size, or turning the person into a more beastlike creature.

Familiars use an instinctive form of Transformation magic when they switch from human to animal forms.

-Break-

**Mobile Sections**

The Mobile Sections, otherwise known as Riot Forces, are fully autonomous military divisions that exist outside of the normal chain of command, and they don't belong to any of the specific branches.

Mobile Sections usually are designed with specific goals, and disband at the conclusion of their objectives. They are usually covert, although Mobile Sections 1,3, 5, and later, 6, are pretty well known, while the existence of 2 and 4 are up to debate.

**Mobile Section 1.**

Mobile section one is the guardian of Cranagan, and to a lesser extent, Mid-Childa as a whole. They have a slight navy consisting of smaller atmospheric entry capable ships with light weapons.

They are sort of a royal guard/ secret service, protecting politicians and the like.

Prior to the Strikers Season, TSAB high command attached Jail Scaglietti to their command, he, along with the high command, reduced their funding and supplies, weakening them as a whole so that they were mostly inconsequential during his attack.

**Mobile Section 2**

Mobile Section Two has the distinction of being the best hidden out of the other Mobile Sections. The only definitive proof that it even exists is the fact that there is a mobile Section 3. No rumors exist about the section, there are no records of anything having to do with it.

However, recently some information has surfaced, an Admiral Winston Markly is the current commanding officer of Mobile Section 2. Also, they have in the resourced pool, an assassin by the name of Vier, who is a master of infiltration, and they also have an older model battle cruiser, the Terra that has been heavily modified.

**Mobile Section 3**

Mobile section 3 is similar to Section 1, in that they are both not hidden from public view. Section three was set up at the founding of the TSAB along with Sections 1, and likely Section 2. Section 3's original job was to both protect the Saint's Church, and to also keep an eye on them.

Following the collapse of the Ancient Belkan Empire and the following Dark Ages, many remaining parts of the empire still tried to wage war or reclaim their past glory, this lead to a general distrust of any practitioners of Belkan magic. The Saint's church, with its heavy ties to the Sankt Kaiser was viewed as a threat, so Section 3 was always kept slightly more powerful than the church to prevent the church from doing anything rash. But at the same time, they also prevented angry people from trying to attack the church.

That was long ago, now Section three no longer has to worry about those issues, instead it works hand in hand with church, helping its Combat Nuns and Priest Knights in the tracking down and collection of Belkan artifacts and Lost Logia. The act as honor guards to Church officials and politicians, and they use their naval assets to ferry the paramilitary units of the church to their destinations, since the terms on the church's treaty with the TSAB forbids them from having any ships larger than a corvette.

Section three also acts as the TSAB liaison to the Churches Self Administration zone, an autonomous section of Mid-Childa that is controlled by the church.

**Mobile Section 4**

Mobile Section 4 has the dubious honor of being the only Section that elicits a response of fear in people. What exactly section four does is unknown, and unlike the other sections, the TSAB classifies any information regarding it. However, rumors still exist, and the little information out there paints a bad image.

Section four is often involved with neutral worlds, un-administered worlds, and non-inhabited worlds, usually performing activities that are at best, questionable, and at worst, completely illegal.

Besides rumors, no concrete data exists about the section.

**Mobile Section 5**

Section five is unique in that is only active for limited times. Section Five forms at each resurgence of the Book of Darkness, tracks it down and attempts to destroy it for good, and then disbands temporarily until it appears again.

Section five, when fully active, is probably the largest, containing large amounts of naval assets and ace and striker forces. When not fully active, it mostly consists of researchers who try to come up with new ways to permanently destroy the book.

The last resurgence of the book appeared on a Non-administered world, and went largely unknown until its conclusion, its small profile prevented section five from mobilizing, and now that the Book is no longer a threat, the section will likely never be fully active again, and will eventually disband.

However, the research division is still active and trying to pry information from the book, its knights, and its master.

One known member is Mariel Atenza.

**Mobile Section 6**

Section 6, along with 7, are temporary sections, forming to handle specific threats and then disbanding, only to reform later with completely different personnel and assets to deal with different situations.

Section 6 is formed during the Strikers season under the command of Hayate to search for the relics, and deal with the threat of Jail Scaglietti.

**Mobile Section 7**

Mobile Section works exactly like section 6, but it is active much less frequently, only forming when section six is already active. Section 7 has only been active twice, and both times it was mostly unimportant and less impressive than what Section 6 was doing.

-Break-

**Vier, Full Name Unknown, Rank Unknown, Assassin, Possibly Human.**

The Assassin known as Vier works directly under Admiral Markly, her exact rank, and even species is unknown. Vier uses a form of transformation magic that keeps her form in a near constant state of change. She is able to hold certain forms, but then she goes back to normal.

She is also a master of poisons, able to alter her biochemistry to make her immune to certain toxins, and to make her own blood a deadly poison.

-Break-

**Mana Threads.**

Mana threads are the building blocks are almost all spells. Anything that a particular form and isn't just uncontrolled energy is made of mana threads. The threads are woven through the spell, in the incantation, and in the arrays, and then they physically make up the spell.

In regards to barriers, the threads are woven together to make the barrier, otherwise it would be a loose assortment of energy with no cohesive whole, the threads hold it together and make it into an actual "Wall" that blocks things.

Single threads are like atoms, they combine to form molecules and then are copied and become actual spells.

-Break-

**GEOS-10. Satellite, American.**

See real world references section.

-Break-

**Naval Space Command Surveillance System (Space Fence). American.**

See real world reference section.

-Break-

**Space Surveillance Network. American**

See real world reference section.

-Break-

**Space Command Center. American**

See real world reference section.

-Break-

**GEODSS. American.**

See real world reference section.

-Break-

**Space Surveillance Telescope. American****.**

See real world reference section.

-Break-

**BSAT-2a, broadcasting satellite. Japanese.**

Guess what? See real world reference section.

-Break-

**Mid-Childan. Language.**

The Mid-Childan language is both a simple and super complex spell. It's simple in that it requires almost no energy to cast or maintain, but its complex in that it takes at least a year to fully "Cast"

Instead of learning a language in the traditional sense, Mid-Childan children are instead walked through the process of reciting the spell. Since the spell conveys concepts, actual wording is unimportant; the children just need to imagine the concepts.

Once cast, the spell requires almost no maintenance, and stays active until the death of the user. Non-mages, those who completely lack a Linker Core, require a either a battery source to keep the spell active, or just use a specially designed device that has the spell loaded in, known as a translator.

The spell conveys meaning, as long as either speaker's language has a concept that means roughly what is trying to be said, they will understand.

Mid-Childan is based off of a form of old English.

-Break-

**Belkan. Language.**

Belkan language is similar to Mid-Childan in that it's not a traditional language, but a spell. Like Mid-Childan, it requires almost no mana to maintain, and is always active. Unlike Mid-Childan, it does not convey meaning, nor is it a universal language.

Instead, Belkan speakers can selectively choose who can hear the words, making it a more secretive language. In this sense, Belkan is the opposite of Mid-Childan.

Belkan is based off of a form of archaic German.

-Break-

**Real World References.**

**GOES-10**

Geostationary Operational environmental Satellite number 10 is an American weather satellite used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). GOES-10 was in operation from late July 1998 to December 2009.

-Break-

**Naval Space Command Surveillance System (Space Fence)**

In 2003, the Space Fence was under the command of the US Navy, Currently in the real world; it is under the command of the US Air Force.

Space Fence can track objects as small as 10 cm across out to distance of around 30,000 miles.

-Break-

**Space Surveillance Network (SSN)**

The SSN has been in operation since 1957, and since then has tracked over 24,000 objects, it currently tracks about 8000, mostly debris, only a small percent, about 7%, are satellites.

-Break-

**Space Surveillance Telescope (SST)**

The SST are high tech telescopes used to view a wide area of space, used for tracking Earth based objects and also to keep an eye out for asteroids.

-Break-

**Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance. (GEODSS)**

These devices us cameras to track objects further out than the Space Fence and possibly the SST's. Currently, and at the time of the story, there are three Active GEODSS Sites. They are able to track large objects over hundreds of thousands of miles away.

-Break-

**BSAT-2a**

BSAT-2a is a Japanese commercial broadcasting satellite with majority ownership from NHK, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation. BSAT-2a provides home phone, TV and internet service.


	5. Chapter 5

Notes

So here it is, Chapter 5. For those that follow this, I figure that you had just assumed I had given up on it, but well, I didn't.

Couple of things here.

First, I feel the need to explain the massive delay.

See, this chapter was actually finished at almost the exact time that chapter 4 went up, all those months ago. The problem comes in on my proof reading and beta testing phase. I send the completed chapter to a friend and a family member who was willing to read through this. Getting the family member to read it was like pulling teeth, and my friend just sat on it without looking at it. now admittedly, the chapter is big, like the last one, and isn't something you can just zoom through, so the fact that these two people were helping in the first place is already a more than I can ask.

Unfortantly, as I mentioned in my notes on chapter one, this is only my second attempt at writing something, and as such, I lack confidence. What I basically want from the two that I asked was just a general assurance that what I did wasn't garbage, and then just a quick review. Basically a verbal version of a elemtary school book report. I don't need some kind of deep analysis of my sentence structure, or searching for deep meaning into a characters choice of lunch. I just want a basic it's ok, and maybe someone to point out that this part didn't make sense, or this part sounded cool.

So after almost five months of waiting, the family member gets back to me, and instead of doing any of the things I wanted, he gave me a list of 30 or spelling and grammar errors. Mostly things like I put "Their" instead of "There", or "To" instead of "Two" Now I know for a fact that there are way more than just 30 spelling errors in this, spell check only does so much. So while my family member didn't do what I asked for, he didn't even provide me with enough errors to even make a real difference.

Then my friend comes through a month later with the constructive crtisism, and he does exactly what I asked, just way too late.

See, in the months that I was waiting for their reviews, I had continued writing later chapters (I have 6 more completed), and those were also not reviewed yet. Now with all the way out to chapter 11 written, my friend points out some changes that I should make to chapter 5, and when I go back and review the chapter, I agree with them.

Chapter 5 could have been much better.

But, my hands are partially tied, certain things needed to happen in this chapter to make the things that happen later on make sense, so despite my best attempts at rewriting parts, I still feel that this chapter is sub-par.

So, this chapter is not where I want it to be, but rewriting it and make sure I mentioned everything that I needed too is just not really possible, so here it is, in all of its imperfect glory.

Other mentions…

Following on what I said above, anyone wanting to beta read some chapters would be awesome. Even if you just want to get them earlier and look at them and then say, "It's ok," I'll settle for that.

I really do just want someone to read these before they go up online.

Also following on what I said above, there may be some inconsistencies with names and such in this chapter, due to the rewrites. Sorry about that, if anyone spots some of those, feel free to mention it.

And for now, since it's a hassle, I am not updating the glossary. I find it more important to just get this chapter up first, so I am not bothering with it right now.

However, when I do put chapter 6 up, which hopefully will be in a couple of days, I will edit the glossary then. Probably.

As I final note, I just wanted to mention something as sorta a fun fact. I borrow names from other forms of media, but I don't make any mention to that fact, but my friend caught one of them, specifically, in chapter 4, emergency naval protocols M-21 and M-24 were characters from a Korean web comic called Noblesse.

Chapter 5

September 23rd, 2045

With a little twisting, some bending, and finally some leaning, a muted cracking followed by a small pop reverberated through Deputy Secretary of Defense Craig Wild's spine. With the kink worked out, he straitened himself back into his chair and leaned back as far as it could go. He folded his arms over his face and tried his hardest to relax and enjoy whatever was left of this short recess, one of many since this briefing/meeting/situational report/status meeting/whatever had started over thirteen hours ago. Thirteen hours, or almost eight hundred minutes spent sitting in this same chair, with only two small lunch breaks, and thousands of bathroom breaks. They really should serve so much coffee at these things, every five minutes someone needed to use the restroom.

Now that his back was no longer sore, Craig instead focuses on his current skull shattering headache. It started as a dull throbbing over his eyes almost seven hours ago, and since then had spread to just behind his ears and to the back of his skull; it had also increased in its intensity, oh god did it increase in intensity. The dull throb had evolved into a booming crash every second that he was positive he would soon be able to literally hear. It's a shame, that with all their medical knowledge, stress, and by relation, headaches, were still something that they couldn't cure. He could go get some painkillers, those would numb the pain until he couldn't feel it anymore, unfortunately, Craig was currently on the hunt, and getting up and showing a weakness would be a setback.

Across the table, firmly planted in a similar chair, was Rear Admiral Brian Condel, a miserable and possible senile old codger. The man is the oldest enlisted officer in the ASN, and a thoroughly wretched person, he seems to hate everything and everyone, and at least to Craig Wild, the feeling was mutual.

However, he did have to thank the miserable turd for one thing, sitting behind him was one of his attendants, Stephanie Falaski, and she was the current holder of Craig's attention. He knew her name because he ran a small background check on her during an earlier break, 26 years old, 5'5, 118 lbs., exactly up to Craig's specifications. The report also contained info on where she went to school and such, but who cares about that, where you went to school doesn't make you look better, and man does she look good. Long blond hair, braided, that fell down to her lower back, an ass just begging to be grabbed, perfectly sculpted legs hidden under stocking, a perky bosom that was to die for, aaaand, she had glasses, tiny rimmed glasses that brought attention to her cute little nose. Behind those glasses, she had the most stunning pair of … what color where her eyes again? Blue? Brown? Maybe Green?

Well this was a problem; an expert hunter can't be seen forgetting important characteristics of his prey. Not good, not good at all.

So with a subtle shift of his hands, and a slight tilt to the head, Craig opened his eyes and calmly gazed across the table. And immediately locked eyes with an adjacent pair; a pair which turned out to be a deep violet.

Across the table, Stephanie Falaski quickly dropped her gaze and began clumsily ruffling through some folders, a slight tint of red spread across her cheeks. What an interesting development, now how to capitalize on it? So many options, what to do? Ok, once she gets up, we'll just have to accidently bump into her over by the coffee maker.

"Ok People, lets finish up and get back to our seats, we just got a new intel report that we need to go over"

Damnit, Ok, have to put the after work pursuits on the back burner for a little, seriously, why did it have to be right then?

As Craig fumed to himself, his coworkers slowly made their way back into the room. The Deputy Prime Minister Harvey Ofenmier, Vice-President Brenda Howl, Secretary of State Amanda Van-Heirden were already in the room, along with Rear Admiral Brian Condel from the navy, Brigadier General Yuan Chen and Major General Leirykaj Trihzen from the marines. Vice Admiral Nana Kunieda walked in from the hallway with her former student, Rear Admiral Francis More in tow. Behind them, Senators Evina Holyhand, John Shrieb, and Floyd Paun walked in as a group; following in their shadow was House Leader Mitch Toren. From out of the bathroom came Secretary of Industry Jeff Doran, who was looking extremely sick, and behind him Deputy Secretary of Civil Security, Kamal Hamash. And last but not least, Deputy Secretary of Intelligence Curtis Hemming, and Chief of Military Exploration, Helen Gold left the adjoining small briefing room and sat back down at their seats.

These 17 people, Craig included, were all that remained of the high-ranking Allied State military and civilian leaderships.

After they had all taken their seats, and the attendants and aids had settle down, and Secretary of Industry Doran had stopped coughing, Vice-President Howl stood and moved to the head of the table. She imputed some data chips into a computer terminal, while she was playing with the screen, the others shuffled documents and data pads, for awhile no one spoke. Then, when she finished with the terminal, a large holographic display of the Allied State's territory appeared, most of it was covered in the Silver and blue of the TSAB, only a small sliver at the top was colored the ASN Red. Once the display was up, the Vice-President turned to face the others.

"Ok, so we just got this new report in, and let me mention this in advance, I think there might be one thing in it that's good news, the rest ranges from bad to awful."

That comment brought muffled groaning from the rest of the table, for whatever reason, the Vice-President felt the need to try to raise everyone's spirits with halfhearted attempts at lame comedy.

"So I am going to quickly go over some important points, and then I will hand the floor over to Deputy Secretary of Intelligence Hemming."

As she finished speaking she reached over and grabbed onto the holographic display, a few finger twitches later and the map shrunk and was replaced by a bulleted list.

"First, scouts confirm the reports we got earlier, Oridian has fallen. The attacking fleet is already gone, besides a very small group that is defending the system. Scans of the planet reveal the same as always, no energy sources, no magical reactions, and no areas of heat. Also the scout confirmed that the Black Out Field is spreading around the planet."

"Sorry to interrupt you there, but what about wreckage around the planet?"

Craig looked back to see Rear Admiral More sitting forward, eagerly anticipating an answer.

"I assume what you're really asking is if the new targeting program on the defense satellites was effective?"

The Rear Admiral just continued looking forward. However, one of the senators, Senator Paun spoke up.

"What's this about a new targeting program? I wasn't briefed on any changes."

"Nor was I, and I Assume neither were Senator Shrieb and House Leader Toren."

"You're Right in assuming that Senator Holyhand. Why was this not mentioned to us? Rear Admiral More, do you have a reason as to why we were kept out of the loop?"

However before More, or Vice Admiral Kunieda could mount a defense, they were rescued by the Vice-President.

"Allow me to answer that. You were not briefed because they did not make the decision. The call to reconfigure the defense net was made on planet, and our esteemed members of the military only learned of it a few hours ago. And in regards to the initial question, there was no noticeable wreckage from any TSAB vessels in orbit, so either they salvaged anything that was damage, or there was nothing there in the first place."

Craig chuckled to himself as the elected senators fumed to themselves. Oh the joys of politics.

"Moving on, I have a nationwide status report, and one for each of our remaining systems, with 2 exceptions, the research outpost in the Panther System is currently experiencing heightened Ion Storm activity and will be out of contact for a few hours. Also, our mining facilities in the Begas Asteroid Belt are currently under the effects of the TSAB scrambling field."

Another quick series of finger flicks and a small map of an Asteroid belt came up.

"And that brings me to my next point, about 20 minutes ago, a small fleet of TSAB frigates and smaller craft raided the Begas Asteroid Belt, the targets were the iridium and osmodium mines built into the larger Asteroids. It seems like their raid party was small and only threw down a small scrambling field at first, we got some actual video footage from when the ships made their approach, and we also have records and some transcripts of the facilities' outbound emergency transmissions. And before anyone asks, the attack is already over; the TSAB now controls that system."

"I am sorry to interrupt, but what's the status on the TSAB ships at the Belt? Perhaps if we move quickly enough we can get a fleet there and retake the facility, and possibly salvage a TSAB ship."

"Don't worry about interruptions, I fully expected that I would be interrupted twice as much as I already am, and to answer that, I need to move onto the next point."

The map of the asteroid belt zoomed out, now the belt was off to the left, at least from Craig's point of view. To its right was a large desert world closely orbiting a red dwarf star, the planet was labeled underneath as Divina Prime and had an estimated current population of 10 billion. Further to Divina Prime's right was a small lifeless planet orbiting a blue giant star labeled Farsford Military Research Center, estimated Current population was 9 thousand. And in-between and bellow the Research Center and planet, was the symbol that now designated a TSAB fleet.

"As you can see, we picked up a TSAB fleet in the Dimensional Seas. Its intended target is either the planet Divina Prime, or the Farsford Research center. We could probably get a fleet to the Asteroid Belt and possibly recapture the mines, but we would almost certainly get blindsided by the approaching fleet, which by the way, we do have some information on, the Research Center's sensors are not to be underestimated. Also, on that note, we did receive a report from the Research Center, apparently they have some conclusions on the TSAB and their new technology, Deputy Secretary of Defense Wild will be briefing us on that."

Ah yes, the one report that was actually sent to him, which wasn't really intended for him anyway, he inherited it from the Secretary of Defense after he was likely vaporized retreating from the Ern System.

"I do have the report, but I don't want anyone getting their hopes up, most of it we already knew, and anything we didn't doesn't help us."

"Well, let use decided that after we hear the report."

"Of course, Evina, I just don't want anyone to get disappointed."

"That's Senator Holyhand, I would prefer you remember the proper titles, Deputy Secretary of Defense Wild."

"No Problem, Sorry About that, Senator _Evina _Holyhand, I wouldn't want to not show you the proper respect."

"_Excuse me_?"

"Ok, that's enough from you two, now can I get on with my briefing?"

The Vice-president was leaning forward with both of her hands on the table, looking really annoyed. Across the table, Senator _Evina_ Holyhand turned and stared forward. Craig leaned back in his chair and folded his hands back behind his head.

"Go ahead."

She glared at Craig a second before moving on.

"In addition to that report, we also have an interesting autopsy report. As you all know, when the fleet was retreating from the Ern system, they were ambushed by a carrier task force. The TSAB's strike craft wrecked havoc on the civilian convoy, which caused parts of the military fleet to turn back and defend them. All in all, the withdraw almost turned into a disaster. But we had a sorta good stroke of luck, one of the escort ships shot down a TSAB light bomber which crashed into the side of one our battle cruisers. We were able to extract two corpses from the wreckage; they were not in the best of conditions, but we did learn some interesting things from them."

She looked down at a data pad for a second before continuing.

"And finally, we have some military reports, Vice Admiral Kunieda has a situational report on our fleets, Rear Admiral More has a readiness report on the Battle Station at Vol IV, And Major General Trihzen has a finished report on the buildup of forces on Solesta I. And on the civilian side of things, we have a whole bunch of reports there. So I think the first thing that is weighing on everyone's mind, is the defeat in the Oridian System, and of the fate of the 27 billion people who lived there. So I am going to hand the podium over to Chief of Military Exploration Helen Gold, who has the latest scouting reports."

"Before that, I have something to add."

"Go ahead; you have the floor Rear Admiral Condel"

Condel struggle to get up out of his chair, luckily for him, Stephanie of all people got up and helped him shuffle over to the head of the table. The Vice-President, clearly not expecting him to literally get up and "Take the Floor" hesitantly moved away and sat back down. Once he got to the head of the table, Stephanie disabled the current map display and then stepped back, then Condel cleared his throat in the most disgusting way possible, and then turned to face the table.

"Military intelligence has re-assessed the ambush out of the Ern system. The initial assessment was an ambush on the withdrawing civilian convoys with a carrier strike force, the attack came to a close when military ships turned back and engaged the carriers. When it became apparent that they would lose, the TSAB ships initiated an auto-destruct sequence that completely obliterated their ships. It took the returning ships almost 10 minutes to get back, and in that time, over 50 civilian transports were destroyed, estimated casualties hover at around 2 million, including some government officials."

The Rear Admiral decided that he was apparently too old to be standing, and motioned to Stephanie to bring over a chair. Now more comfortable he continued.

"Some people at Intel apparently though the situation odd enough that they re-examined it, and discovered some new facts. But before that, I want to point out what they saw, and the rest of you missed."

Just about every one sitting at the table seemed to have taken offense to that.

"First is the uniqueness of the attack. The TSAB only attacks from a position of overwhelming superiority, or I suppose, if the situation is important enough, they will attack from a weaker position, for example when they infiltrated deeply into our lines to attack Taleron, and then set up an ambush to kill the remaining Fleet Admirals. The attack at Ern fulfilled none of those criteria. The TSAB did not have an overwhelming advantage, the opposite was true, they had an overwhelming disadvantage. And the second criteria was also lacking, there was nothing important enough to sacrifice those ships within that convoy."

"Is it possible they thought something important was going to be in that convoy?"

"No, it is not Senator Shrieb. The TSAB's Intelligence gathering is notably better than ours, we didn't release any information in an effort to try to trick them, and so it's impossible that the TSAB somehow gathered incorrect Intel."

There was this awkward pause after he finished speaking, everyone expected him to continue, and he looked like he was expecting something, perhaps a rebuttal from Senator Shrieb?

"Attendant! What are you waiting around for! Bring up the next screen!"

Stephanie immediately jumped into action, after a short pause, a screen popped up showing two different types of ships, Craig wasn't an expert, but they looked small.

"The TSAB's task force was comprised of five ships, three of them were carriers, that destroyer up there is what the carriers looked like. Along with those three, there were also two escort frigates. Our information on TSAB ships is lacking, but what we do know is that these two types of ships have never been seen before. Now this next part is harder to point out in regards to the carriers, so I am going to focus on the escort frigate."

He turned to face Stephanie again.

"Well?"

And again she rushed forward and brought up the schematics on the frigate. God that man was such a bastard.

"Ok these ships are escorts for the carriers, for you civilians, that means that they are designed to protect the carriers from combat ships that get too close. Now first notice that the ships engine is larger than normal for TSAB ships, that indicates that the ship was designed for speed, which is normal enough. Now the main weapon on this ship is a single spinal mounted energy weapon, mounted down the belly, the small fixture on the bottom there. We know from video records that this weapon is not a beam cannon, it instead fires moderately powerful energy bolts, and we can tell from the size of the weapon that it has a long range. In addition to the main cannon, the ship has only 4 point defense weapons mounted on the nose, tail, and one on each side. For those that don't know, our escort frigates usually have twice that number on them, if not more. And rounding out the ships arsenal are two rapid fire pulse bolt batteries, designed for close range high-speed fire. Attendant, bring up the schematics on the TSAB's GTP Frigate."

Stephanie went and brought up the display for the GTP class frigate, this time however, instead of retreating back behind the Rear-Admiral, she stayed kneeling on the ground.

"This is the TSAB's GTP Frigate; it's the smallest Frigate we've seen from them. Based on the design, and the obvious similarities, we think this is an upgraded version of the Old TSAB's GGL class Medium Range Frigate, itself which is an upgrade from the much older GGC class frigates. Now compare the GTP to the new escort ship. Look and see how their chassis are different, the GTP is slightly shorter despite its overall increased tonnage, it makes up for this by being wider and by the nature of the duel main cannon approach that the TSAB uses, which gives their ships increased fire power at the loss of durability. Now our escort Frigate here lacks the Duel Cannons, and is also longer and thinner, and is also missing the wings that most navy's put on their ships. Zoom in on the GTP."

While Stephanie was zooming in, Senator Shrieb spoke up again.

"Not that I don't love a technical lesson on the TSAB's ships, is this going anywhere?"

"Yes it is Senator Shrieb."

The rear admiral apparently felt that the senator needed no more information than that, and quietly sat in his chair until Stephanie finished her task.

"Now notice the weapons, the GTP has 4 main cannons, long range energy beam cannons with unknown specs, along with that, it has six heavy bolt cannons, three mounted on each side. There is also a small missile launcher array mounted under the nose, and there are nine point defense Beam Guns positioned around the ship. We also know that this ship has a forward facing Shield Array, and at least 4 separate Barrier Arrays. Compared to the escort, the conclusion here is that the escort ship is greatly under armed and under armored."

The Rear Admiral struggled to stand for his big reveal, and required Stephanie help to do so. Who knew the old man had such a thing for theatrics?

"This means that the escort ship, and these facts are also true of the carriers, were not designed with pure combat potential in mind, the space that should have gone to weapons, was instead converted into sensors and stealth equipment."

"I am sorry Rear Admiral, but that means literally nothing to us."

"Actually it does Senator, do you mind if I explain it to them, Rear Admiral?"

"Go Ahead Nana."

"Our records of the attack show that the TSAB's ships were hiding behind a cloud of space junk, and when they came out, they immediately attacked research ships from the Girin Foundation. Those ships were long range exploration vessels that the Navy had commandeered to help evacuate the system. However, just prior to the attack, the captain of the lead exploration vessel contacted former Rear-Admiral Augustus three times. The first two times he mentioned that sensors were picking up an anomalous reading in the sector that contained the hidden ships, the final time he was unable to connect because the Rear Admiral was already on the line with fleet command, however they were left waiting with an open connection for 71 seconds before the TSAB attacked. The transcripts of the communication do not suggest that the Foundation ships knew they were viewing TSAB ships, but they kept focusing their sensors in an area that housed the hidden ships. What this new information suggests is that the TSAB ships were designed for long range recon and espionage missions, and if our new train of thought is correct, that the withdrawing fleet just stumbled upon them."

"Admirals, both of you, that means nothing to us."

"No, it does, at least to the intelligence department, Admiral Condel, may I take the floor for a moment?"

"Hmf, go ahead."

Deputy Secretary of Intelligence Curtis Hemming slid out of his chair and hobbled up to the center podium, his limp barely even slowing him down. Once he got there, he nodded to the Rear-Admiral, who with Stephanie's help, moved out of the way and went back to his place. Now with all eyes on him, Curtis cleared his throat, in a way that Craig noticed, was not disgusting, and then began speaking in his slow and quiet voice.

"As you all know, one of the TSAB's greatest assets in this war is their scrambling and Black Out fields. We assume that the two are linked, and that the scrambling field is a lesser and incomplete version of the Black Out Field. The Field itself blocks all forms of sensors and teleportation, likely interfering with the Dimensional Lines. The scrambling field does the same, but instead of blocking it completely, it just scrambles the signals."

Craig already knew this, his position as Deputy Secretary of Defense had allowed him access to a decent amount of classified information, and his current position as Acting Secretary of Defense allowed full access. He also knew that the two fields were creating a massive intelligence vacuum; that the Allied States, along with the Irlian Empire and the Free Trade Union had yet to fill.

"These fields have greatly hampered our ability to gain any form of useful intelligence in regards to the TSAB's fleet movements, or even their technology. With long range sensors and communications at worst, useless, and at best, compromised and unreliable, we have been forced to put more resources into Chief Gold's scouting divisions, however, that hasn't yielded the results that we would like. Chief Gold, I don't have the numbers right now, but do you know what your current casualty reports are?"

Chief of Military Exploration Helen Gold, a woman in her mid fifties with sandy blond hair, shuffled through some data pads. Craig paused to appraise her, she probably was once an attractive woman, she had aged well, and along with her military lifestyle, still had a nice body. Unfortunately, at some point she had received a rather large scar than ran from the center of her forehead, down her nose, across her mouth, and then finally ended at her chin. Craig considered what kind of fight she had to have been in to receive that kind of scar, and to survive it, but before his imagination ran wild, he was brought out of his thoughts by the woman in question finally finding the right pad.

"Casualty reports for scouting divisions roughly match up with the other fleets, with fleet casualties slightly coming out ahead, unfortunately, in our last war with the Irlians, fleet casualties were around 45%, this time fleet casualties are at 89%. With the Irlians our scouting casualties were only 4% whereas they are now 83%. In the opening week following the first TSAB attacks, scout casualties were initially low, at only 26%; this was due to their lack of use at the time. Then, once my people were put into action, casualties rose to 99%, this time due to the general confusion and chaos at the onset of hostilities. Once the Navy fully mobilized, and under the command of Fleet Admiral Lisanto, scouting casualties dropped to 91%. Then, eight days ago, we restructured our scouting parties, sending task forces instead of single ships, casualties dropped to the current 83%; however, while casualties are still much higher than the norm, with the new system we are getting a lot more usable intel.

The chief's voice was slightly slurred, initially Craig had assumed that she had been drinking, but he had realized that the slash across her face had almost certainly damaged some facial muscles. None the less, she was hard to understand.

Whether or not it was because of her slur, or because they just didn't catch the meaning, all of the elected and appointed government officials were looking confused, and Craig counted himself among them this time around.

"Deputy Secretary Hemming, forgive me, but I am not seeing the meaning behind this."

Well that was a surprise, House Leader Mitch Toren, despite being elected as head of the Senate, was generally a spineless coward. It was well known that he was just a puppet to the true leaders of the Allied Democratic People's Party, the senior senators, three of which had survived and were currently in this room, Senator's Evina Holyhand, Floyd Paun, and John Shrieb. The House Leader was just a tool of theirs to lead the general assembly around without looking like they were really doing anything, for him to actually show inactive without their prodding was rare.

Almost everyone in the room seemed to share Craig's surprise, except the military types, they probably didn't even notice that anything was off. So it was with his usual deadpan voice that Deputy Secretary Hemming responded with almost immediately.

"Scouting casualties have been unusually high. The fact that scout ships are the only way for us to gain intelligence, and to monitor their advances and fleet movements, should have been obvious to the TSAB also. If what Admiral Condel said is accurate, and I have no reason to doubt that, then these small "Raiding" task forces have probably been active since the onset of hostilities, and their goal, or their mission objective, is to destroy our scouting forces and leave us in the information vacuum that their Black-Out field first put us in."

It made sense, Craig wasn't exactly a "Military" person, but out off all of the remaining government officials, Craig was probably the closest, and as such, he could at least see some of the implications of this revelation. What exactly they lead too, that he couldn't say.

And apparently, neither could the other government officials. The Vice-President and Deputy Prime Minister both seemed to be waiting patiently for more information, as was the Secretary of State, although she was leaning forward in anticipation. Secretary of Industry Jeff Doran was attempting to stifle a coughing fit that was wracking his body; he seemed to be paying no attention to the conversation. Deputy Secretary of Civil Security Hamash was sitting motionlessly in his chair, exactly like he had been since the beginning of this meeting. And the three Senators, along with the spineless weasel of a House Leader, they were just about jumping out of their seats, eager to hear how this would translate into a victory for the Allied States, and also into a cake walk bid for reelection for them.

Craig wanted to laugh at the ridiculous of their behavior. The three of them, and before, when there were more senior senators still alive, had spent the entire time attempting to blame the war on the former Prime Minister and President. They had taken every opportunity to assign blame, because in their eyes, this had to be someone's fault. To them, someone had obviously failed to spot the warning signs, signs that a civilization that was assumed to have collapsed, would come out of hiding after twenty years with a massive fleet of super powered warships and would, without and reasoning, attack everyone. They honestly seemed to expect that the Allied States would have a winning plan in the event that war would break out, without any warning, and that the enemy would be many times more powerful. And since there was no plan, it must be the fault of the current administration.

So they had made a crusade of relentlessly attacking the Prime Minister and President, and when they had both been killed when the capital, Alliance Prime, was attacked, they had moved on to new targets, attacking any appointed officials of the administration. Never once did they stop and offer help, no, they only assigned blame. And for what? Reelection? At best estimates, within two weeks there would be no senate; the Allied States would cease to be. Hell, out of the four of them, only House Leader Toren's electorate was still under Allied State control, the other planets that voted for these people had fallen to the TSAB. But they still relentlessly attacked the government and military.

And Honestly, Craig could understand that. The desire to blame someone for your misfortunes is a very human trait. He himself had also wanted to do that at first, right until his birthplace, the Vidus Station, was destroyed. That had been a wakeup call, and it changed how he viewed the entire war. So Craig understood why the senators felt compelled to blame someone, and he could forgive them for that. What he couldn't understand, and wouldn't forgive, was the fact that they did nothing to make the situation better. If he didn't know for a fact that at least one of them was smarter than that, he would have assumed that they honestly believed that once someone accepted the blame, that that would somehow fix everything. But they had to be too smart for that, they had to know that all of their grandstanding and political rhetoric was not helping. Instead, they insisted on being informed and involved in every single thing. They bogged the process down, not following any form of strategy, one day they would force the Navy to send a fleet to evacuate some system, and another day they would stand idly by while yet another system was attacked. It was ridiculous.

And Craig didn't care. He couldn't understand them, and he had no desire to forgive them for their foolish actions, but he also felt no anger about it either. He really didn't care, because although they were making the situation worse, no matter what, it was unwinnable in the first place. Even before, the TSAB had been right on the cusp of being considered a Dimensional Super Power. The Allied States wouldn't have been able to stand against them then, and now, now that they were many times more powerful, the Allied States had no hope. So all the Senators were really doing was making the process of loosing just slightly more obnoxious.

"THEN WHY WASTE OUR TIME?"

The outburst from across the table brought Craig out from his musings. Musings that he now realized had gone on longer than he had anticipated, since he had no idea what was going on. The three senators across the table all looked upset, Senator Paun was sitting in his chair, arms crossed, looking disapprovingly up at the Deputy Secretary of Intelligence. Next to him, Senator Holyhand was fidgeting in her seat, constantly crossing and then uncrossing her legs while chewing on her lower lip, which made Craig give a soft chuckled. The Senator always had a habit of biting her lip when she was annoyed or confused, and Craig wasn't surprised to find she hadn't gotten over it.

Unfortunately, she noticed his little chuckled and sent him a death glare, which he ignored and then ever so subtly, bit down on his own lip before giving her a wide grin. She paused for a minute, looking slightly confused, but then understanding dawned on her and she blushed hard, her nose and ears turning pink before she spun away.

Before he could enjoy the little exchange more, Senator Shrieb flopped backwards into his chair and continued whatever he had been ranting about.

"So the TSAB has dedicated ships to hunt down our scouts. BUT, we can't do anything with that information because why?"

"As I have already said, Chief Gold's Scouting Forces are too depleted to make any changes that would allow us to capitalize on this information. But even if they could, we would gain almost nothing. The ASN controls so little territory that scouting is now almost unnecessary. We lack the forces to exploit any openings we might find in their formations, all we can do now is to fortify what we have left and hope we can hold them off."

So they were still discussing the scout hunting fleets, so Craig hadn't missed much in his little laps in attention, still, he didn't want it to seem like he wasn't taking this seriously, especially while Stephanie was still there.

"So then why even bother mentioning it? You just wasted our time on a pointless presentation."

Craig almost wanted to laugh; the Senator was acting like a child, upset that his parents weren't giving him something he had asked for. He was about to say something, but before he could, Condel, of all people, decided to shut him up.

"You wanted to be included in these meetings. We discuses Intel, not all of it is useful, not all of it gives us you an instant victory, we go over and see if we can make it useful, and if we can't then we store it for later when it might become useful. If you don't like it, you can leave."

The room went dead silent, the military types all sharing Condel's sentiments, The Heads of State and Senators all unable to believe that the old man, who usually only grumbled, would actually say that. And then there was Craig, who despite his mostly calm looking outward appearance, was struggling to not crack up laughing. Sure, he didn't like Condel, But he didn't like Shrieb either, and that little exchange had made this entire meeting worthwhile, and since the Senator was currently looking like his head was about to explode, Craig assumed that this situation was only going to get better.

"While I wouldn't have phrased it quite as eloquently as the Admiral, He is right. While this particular piece of information doesn't directly benefit us, it does give us more insight into the TSAB. And that is a point that we are severely lacking on."

Although he was disappointed that the situation was now no longer going to progress, Craig found himself impressed with The Deputy Secretary of Intelligence. He knew that Deputy Secretary Hemming was basically a glorified file clerk to the former Secretary of Intelligence, His strengths were organization and analysis of data, and his tone of voice and mannerisms would lead anyone to believe that he was lacking in people skills, more at home working on a computer than talking another living person. But, he diffused that situation masterfully.

"Ok. What does this tell us about the TSAB then?"

"Many things, we can conclude that their stealth equipment is highly advanced, it would need to be to allow them to have enough small groups of ships to hunt down all of our scouts without being detected until now."

That made sense, although, new information on the TSAB's stealth capacity wasn't that important. It was already known they had high level equipment when they ambushed the Fleet Admirals at Taleron. And it wasn't like the TSAB had been using much in the realm of Stealth; they mostly just crushed their opposition with superior force.

"Just something to add, we can also assume that the Irlians and the Free Trade Union are using scouts like us, and suffering the same problems. We don't know how effective the TSAB is at tracking our ships, so we don't know how many of the "Raiding" task forces they currently field, but it does give us more insight into the scope of their fleet sizes."

When she had started speaking, all eyes had turned and focused on her. Vice-Admiral Kunieda was a tactical and strategic genius, she was possibly the most influential admiral outside of the Fleet Admirals, in fact, rumor was that she had gotten on Former Fleet Admiral Ericson's bad side, and he had moved to block her promotions, if it wasn't for that, she would have likely become a Fleet Admiral herself.

To Craig, she was an enigma. She was short, barely reaching five feet, she wasn't particularly thin, but she wasn't large either. Her hair was simple, a shoulder length basic haircut, she parted her hair in the middle, it was generally, plain. Her looks were similar, she eschewed jewelry and accessories, wore the bare minimum when it came to make-up, she wore a standard Navy dress skirt, but Craig suspected that hers was longer, hiding more of her legs than it should have. She was completely plain and modest by all means, but at the same time, she somehow possessed some form of beauty despite that.

Her personality was the same, she was modest, quiet, and humble, but when you spoke to her, you could just sense that she could see right through you, that she was calculating thousands of things at once, and that she was barely listening to you at all, but that she was also giving you her undivided attention.

Craig hadn't met her before the war, and he had to admit that the stress of watching your civilization collapse might be affecting his opinions, but he didn't like her. He was unable to analyze her; he couldn't classify her like he could with all other women. He had no idea what made her tick, and what was more maddening, she seemed to know that. She knew he couldn't quite grasp her, and he knew that she didn't have that problem with him.

He suspected it was a pride issue. He had failed, and she had succeeded, and he didn't like her for it. Childish, he knew that, but he also didn't care.

But regardless, when she spoke, every one listened. Even the Senators, who had made a point of arguing with the military just as much as they did the Prime Minister, none of them confronted her.

"That is also true, a generous estimate would be that they have a single raiding party in or around each system, and probably have some hiding in the Dimensional Seas; if each Task Force has around five ships we have eleven systems under our control, so a low estimate could be anywhere between 75 and a hundred ships dedicated to hunting down scouts. That does shed light onto the total number of ships they are fielding."

Only Deputy Secretary Hemming was un-phased by the Vice-Admiral's presence. Along with her Student, Rear-Admiral More, the Deputy Secretary of Intelligence was the only person who could normally converse with her. The Rear-Admiral was as much a prodigy as his mentor; she had handpicked him out of Alliance Prime's Elite Naval Academy when he was only a first year. The fact that Hemming could be at ease around them only further increased Craig's assumptions that he was not just a normal assistant.

"Not only their fleets, this information tells us more about them as a whole."

"Oh? And what exactly does it tell us?"

"Yes, please do share with us your insights."

Francis More's youth and relative inexperience was an issue of contention between him, and just about everyone else. At just slightly past his 17th birthday, he was by far the youngest out of the other Generals and Admirals, however, his talent and skills had won him respect from his peers, some, like Condel, slightly more grudgingly than others. Unfortunately, military exploits only get you so far when dealing with the government. With his Mentor's support and her confidence in his abilities, the administration slowly learned to trust him, they were still cautious, usually requiring second opinions, but through time, even that stopped. However, the Senators, they didn't trust him at all. He bore the brunt of their accusations towards the military, and he probably received his mentor's share of the blame too, just because no one would say something negative to her face.

And Craig actually liked the guy, he might be a military genius of sorts, but he was still just a naive 17 year old kid. He was fun to joke around with, and his flustered face whenever Craig would bring up women was always worth a laugh. Probably, out of all of the people here, Rear Admiral More was one of the two people that he would have any desire to meet outside of a meeting room. Wait not quite, Craig had forgotten Stephanie, so there were three people he would meet outside.

Anyways, he liked the guy, and he disliked it when the Senators attacked him for no reason. And this was a good opportunity, he had been mostly silent, this was a good chance to show he had been paying attention, that little lapse earlier was still bothering him. Plus, not only would he be coming to his aid, and dispelling the idea that he had been zoning out, but it would make him look better in Stephanie's eyes, the pretty violet things.

"It tells us the TSAB is smart, or at least not drunk on its own power."

Craig rarely spoke in these meetings, not because he didn't like to, but because he had nothing new to add. The Admirals and Generals knew what they were doing; all they had to do was convince everyone else of that fact. Craig wasn't a strategist, but he knew that they were, so even if he couldn't fully see why something needed to be done, the fact that the professionals in that field said it needed to be done was reason enough. Craig also wasn't a doctor, wasn't an engineer, wasn't a pilot, and when those people spoke about their fields, he listened, because they were the experts, he didn't tell them how to do their jobs because he truthfully didn't know how to do their jobs.

So he rarely had anything to say, he relayed any reports that came in through his office, answered questions directed at him, and then watched, usually only chiming in to bother the Senators. And the others would after a while, almost forget he was there. They almost treated him in the same way they treated the other aids and assistants, so when he would speak up, they would all seem to be caught off guard. So he waited for them to regain their focus, and then hopefully someone would give him an opening to continue.

"What do you mean? Not drunk on their own power? They are invading every bordering nation, how are they not drunk on their own power?"

Bingo, a fast ball right down the center.

"Well Senator, this tells us that they aren't relying solely on their Scrambling Fields. They know that there are ways around it, and are moving to block them. And if they were drunk on their own power, then they would have just taken their massive fleet and steamrolled over us. Instead they probe are lines, striking at weak points, hiding within the intel hole only to emerge suddenly, rip into us, and then fall back into the shadows. They are fighting a harder war, scouting our territory out, preventing us from doing the same, laying ambushes, launching strikes deep into our lines. They minimize their own losses as much as possible, while increasing their strengths as much as possible against us. They didn't need to do that, they could have beaten us without, instead they are going the extra mile to make sure we have no chance. And they definitely aren't doing it because they need to, they are doing it to completely crush us with ease."

Senator _Evina_ Holyhand had given him a nice setup, and she had been gentle about it too, so Craig had refrained from being rude back. Sure, she had been more curt than she needed too, but that was really the best he could hope to get from her, she seemed to be honestly interested in his opinion. It was nice, just like old times.

"Deputy Secretary Wild is accurate in his assessment. We can get a glance of what the TSAB is thinking with this, it is not a whole picture, but it gives us something, and the reasoning behind the TSAB's aggression in one of the biggest mysteries we need to confront. However, the Senators are also right, this piece of information does matter much right now. I just wanted to mention how the new assessment about the attack in the Ern system could now shed light on our abnormally high scouting losses. Perhaps Chief Gold can do something with the information."

As he was speaking, he took time to carefully nod at each of the people that added something constructive to the conversation. Rear Admiral Condel got the first nod, then Chief Gold, Vice Admiral Kunieda and Rear Admiral More, and then finally Craig got his nod, and then a final one to Chief Gold again.

"Now that said, I will give the floor back to Vice-President Howl. We have been off on a tangent long enough now, and the fate of Oridian is too important to be put off any longer."

With that, Deputy Secretary Hemming looked around one last time, and then made his way back to his seat at the end of the table, snuggled next to Chief Gold and Deputy Secretary of Civil Security Hamash. Once he had limped back, the Vice-President got back up and retook her position at the head of the table. She paused to remove the ship schematics that Stephanie had left up, and then replaced them with a large image of a blue and green planet.

"Well let's see here. At around 20:00 UDT yesterday, we lost contact with Oridian, about six hours later at 1:49 UDT, a small scouting detachment confirmed that the planet had fallen. In regards to earlier, the defense network was reconfigured, instead of the traditional targeting system, it was modified to concentrate fire on the smallest enemy ships. The thinking was to at least destroy something, since the defensive satellites weren't a real threat to the TSAB. Unfortunately, with their scrambling field and later, the Black-Out Field, and the fact that close to six hours had passed until we got scouts there, we don't know how effective the change was. That said, our scouts only found a small detachment of TSAB ships in the system, around twenty some ships, mostly smaller ones. And scouts were unable to identify anything on planet, like always. Oridian had a population of slightly over 27.2 billion with Regular military forces at about two million, paramilitary forces including local police of around 5 million, and as of the last reports, a conscripted force off about 7 million. On planet there was also 22 divisions of mechanized infantry, 17 regiments of armor…"

The Vice-President's list went on, a specific break down of all of the war assets on Oridian, Armor, Infantry, Ace and Striker Forces, bombers, Strike craft, dropships, gunships, mech infantry, artillery and so on. When it had become apparent that attack was imminent, they had received the same information yesterday, along with how the fortifications and such were laid out. But none of it mattered, because at no point in this war, never once had they managed to go back and even attempt to reclaim a planet that was attacked by the TSAB. And the small window of opportunity that the scouts took to gain the little intel they had was already closed, the Black-Out Field extending too far outside of the system, making any scouting missions way too dangerous. And like every other time that they got a glimpse of a planet, the scouts couldn't get anything useful from it; planets that the TSAB attacked showed no energy signatures of any kind, and no one knew why.

The TSAB's ground war capabilities were even more of a mystery than their naval assets. Never once had the TSAB started an invasion while allowing anything to observe them. They always had their Black-Out Field running, completely shutting down long range sensors and communications. In-fact, no one had ever even seen a TSAB ground unit, they could just as safely say that the TSAB used nothing but Belkan Era Knights, or that they only used the most advanced armor, or that they used conscripted civilians, no one had any idea.

So Craig had only listened to the report with half his attention, the important part being summed up as, "Oridian was attacked, and that's all we know." All that was left was to wait for the next topic, which the Vice-President had just started to introduce.

"Well, that sums up Oridian, next, according to our bulleted list is the nationwide status reports, but honestly, those are boring and I bet no one cares. I will mention the Panther System and then the Begas Asteroid Belt. In case anyone was wondering, the Panther System houses a large nebula that is home to a small research base, the nebula is known for having intense and sporadic ion storms, and one of them is currently blocking communications with the outpost Now, to the Begas Asteroid Belt."

The holographic display of Oridian was closed, the bulleted list from before momentarily popped back up before being minimized and a new screen, a still frame from a video from what Craig assumed was the Asteroid Belt.

"Well, this is the video footage we got. It's just over a minute long. A freighter that happened to be entering the system at a really bad time picked it up and then sent it out via a relay station hidden in an abandoned mine. Apparently, there was a little bit of a smuggling operation going on, the Osmodium is the basis of some of our larger ships sub-structures, however, it's too hard to work with without the use of an industrial grade manufacturing and refining plant. But, the Iridium is used in a lot of low grade explosives, and the Irlians buy that up in droves. The freighter was a smuggling ship, it came in out of schedule and using a small stealth field. It was able to arrive without detection, but once there, the TSAB spotted it and went after it. Before it was destroyed, they transmitted this video along with some other scans via the relay station. Well, let's watch the video then."

The Vice-President dimmed the lights and then sat back down in her chair at the head of the table. Once she was comfortable, she tapped the display once and the video started to play.

The first few seconds of the film were filled with static and Craig couldn't make anything out, then a gruff male voice came over the static.

"Ok Boy's keep 'er steady and follow the path. We wanna grab our shipment and get outta here. The stealth field running ok? No sign of detection yet?"

The static was still there, but now another voice answered the first, this time a younger and more exited one.

"Cap'n, I got something…passive scans are showin a whole lotta energy sources out there."

"Shit…Not good. They wasn't supposed to be no shipment today. The belt shoulda been empty."

"Cap'n! We just got scanned. They know we're here."

"Damnit, Drop the Stealth field. We gotta bail, forget the damn shipment.

Apparently the ship's stealth field was the source of the static, and once it was removed the video footage cleared up, unfortunately, it showed almost nothing useful, the freighter was hidden in an almost certainly un-natural tunnel of Asteroids. Pieces of girders were crudely dug into the large rocks, while others were tethered together with industrial grade cables, and still more had pieces of scaffolding welded to them. Someone had gone to great effort to make this hidden tunnel traversable to the less savory freighters.

"Cap'n, some of the ships are heading towards us…what do we do?"

"Are we too far in to use the Jump Drive?"

"Not sure, but probably, we'd get torn to pieces with all these rocks. We need to back track some."

"Ok, there is a thin section coming up, we are gonna blast through it."

"Sir, if we use the cannons, those ships are gonna know we are armed… that's gonna get us like an extra 5-10 years prison time…"

"Dumbass, when they impound the ship you think they won't realize we got guns on it? They aint hidden that well. Now its commin up in a sec, blast that rock with the red marker on it, once we get through we are makin a sharp U-turn and then headin right back into tunnel. Then we high tail it outta here. Got it? Good. Now hit that rock."

The camera that was recording this seemed to be set in the nose of the ship, with the audio playing over it. Craig couldn't see the guns that the crew was talking about, but when a series of deep blue bolts shot out from over the camera and slammed into one the less secured asteroids, it did become semi-apparent where they were located.

The blasts didn't destroy the large hunk of rock, they barely even cracked it's surface. However, the force of the blasts pushed the asteroid out of its position in the tunnel wall, sending it spinning out and away as a shockwave rippled through the rest.

Then the camera suddenly pulled up, the ship changing direction and heading to the new opening as other smaller rocks started drifted into the tunnel. More navy blue bolts lanced out, knocking the larger asteroids out of the way and vaporizing the smaller ones.

And then the ship was in the tunnel wall, small chunks of rock, along with pieces of metal bounced off of the sides of the ship, making the whole thing shake and rattle.

Before Craig could even fully notice what had happened, the freighter had cleared the debris and was now in open space. The view spun as the freighter rotated itself 180 degrees in its attempt to return back to the safety of the tunnel. Through the spinning and twisting, Craig thought he saw some flashes and bright splotches of color, but he couldn't make anything out definitively, it was too confusing.

"HOLY SHIT"

Someone on the freighter's bridge screamed, and then the chaos accelerated. A massive bright flash went off much too close to the freighter and overloaded the camera. The visual image was badly degraded, but at least outlines and some things could still be seen, and it did appear to be improving. And Craig could tell that the screen was no longer spinning out of control like it had been before, instead it was rotating much too quickly.

"What was that? What happened?"

"Cap'n, one of them ships shot at us, it hit a rock and sent chunks flyin all over the place, we got hit by a bigger one."

"Any damage?"

"Uhhh…it hit the starboard cargo bay and crushed the door, but I think we're ok."

"What kinda police ship fires on a cargo ship?"

"What kinda police ship has a gun with that kinda range?"

"Hell of a warning shot."

More voice chimed in, all showcasing various forms of confusion at why and how they had just been fired at. Their assumption that they were dealing with ASN patrol ships was reasonable, but to Craig who knew the truth, he couldn't help but want to scream at them.

"Alright, that's enough chit chat, bring us about. Let's see what shot at us, if it's a slow one we can still make a run for it. Otherwise, we give up."

The camera spun again, this time to the right. The freighter maneuvered around another large asteroid, and then finally showed a mostly clear image of the attack in progress.

If it could still be considered, "In progress." From the limited field of vision that the camera had, Craig could see that a "Battle," had never happened. The mining facilities were run-down and poor, they only had enough base fortifications to prevent unarmed ships from just moving up and taking whatever they wanted, they couldn't even defend against a remotely dedicated pirate raid, they had to rely on ASN patrols to keep away potential thieves. Against dedicated warships, and TSAB warships no less, the few guns and defense satellites were hardly worth mentioning. No, a "Battle," hadn't taken place, it was more of a loud and violent demolition project.

The camera picked up a few mining and construction craft, all gutted and shattered, their hulls burnt, there was also a small freighter, it was in pieces. The main base, with all of the living quarters and storage was a large dome shaped complex that hooked together a few of the larger asteroids. It was big and bulky, and it seemed to contain some form of oxygen producing plant. Craig could tell this because it was still burning. Most of the dome was missing; great holes were dug out of it, the smaller sub-sections were no longer connected, all scorched and floating in bits and pieces off to the sides. But the central piece, from some of the holes, even on the poor video he was watching, Craig could see tails of fire licking the openings.

But the little tongues of fire that shot out of the dome were hardly alone, there was plenty of other flames to be found, they were just of a different variety. Whatever the iridium in these mines was found as, it burnt an eerie pale green. And there was a lot of it. All of the asteroids that had mining systems attached were broken, the iridium ignited even in the void of space, and the ghostly flames burst forth. The shattered wrecks of the facilities, the destroyed freighter, the crushed machinery, all of it floated in a ghoulish green field of fire. And in the center of this scene, over forty TSAB warships idly floated, their long thin silver bodies reflecting the pale green flames, they sat there like some alien beast lazing around an entrance to the underworld.

The view was both terrifying, and oddly mesmerizing. The scene of destruction floating about was a testament to the power of the TSAB, Craig knew that this fight had been a slaughter, the miners were completely unable to do anything to fend off their attacks, they had all died a pitiful death at the hands of a monster.

At the same time, Craig couldn't help being awed by the sight of the TSAB warships. They were all sharp lines and hard edges, covered in that chrome like silver armor that they used, their little blue accents only serving to emphasize the shiny gloss of their hulls. And each of the ships, as if to flaunt their superiority, had a large black and orange crosshair painted across their bridges and command decks, as if to dare someone to attempt to fire there, to bring themselves directly into the line of fire of the massive guns mounted on the sides. They were ships designed and wholly dedicated to war, each curve, every side, all of the edges, they were all designed in an effort to intimidate the viewer, and they did just that. Craig knew that these ships were the most powerful warships that the Allied States had ever encountered, he knew how durable they were, how quick, how deadly. But seeing it in person, up close like this, brought it into a whole new light. These ships weren't just powerful and deadly, they were untouchable, to even considering going up against them was the height of folly, nothing could stand against that.

The scene of those ships, floating around in that vision of hell had unnerved him, he had known that the Allied States would fall, he knew that their navy was far to depleted to even offer token resistance, he knew that they couldn't win this war, but he knew all that as a statistic, as a series of numbers, as a cold hard emotionless fact. But seeing these ships had put it into a new light, a very emotional one, one that reached into the very core of his being and spoke to him. It whispered dark truths that he had known, but refused to fully process. The Allied States would die, his friends would die, his family would die, he would die. And just like no one could stand against those warships, he knew nothing could stand against this fate, it would come to pass, and all he could do was wait and watch.

Craig's thoughts were flying all over the place, a rising panic spreading though his mind; the two seconds of silent video stretching on into an eternity, but it ended; the crew of the freighter realized what they were looking at, and a panic much, much worse than what had gripped Craig spread through the bridge.

What seemed like hundreds of voices, even thousands of voices, but what was really only ten, all started yelling at once. The microphone was obviously damaged and the whirlwind of screams merged into an incomprehensible mess. Some words and phrase could be heard, perhaps because they were said louder, or with more emotion, or maybe because Craig was thinking them himself, but he picked up on things like, "TSAB," and "Die," or things like "Run." He couldn't tell exactly what was being said, but he could basically figure it out himself, it wasn't hard.

Then, one of the TSAB ships that was nearby, not close, it was still on the other side of the clearing, but still the closest, and definitely within firing range, brought a side mounted battery around and in line with the freighter. The TSAB had always designed their ships with noting but offense in mind, that, and little bit of speed and mobility. TSAB ships were some of the fastest and most mobile ships pound for pound in any of the known dimensions. Their ships were basically guns attached to engines, their philosophy being that armor and defenses could be put on the back burner as long as the enemy never got a chance to shoot back, and to a certain extent, it worked exactly like that. It also served created an extreme fear factor, the ASN and the nearby Irlians used more basic ship designs that had a more balanced approach. They were significantly more armored than their TSAB counterparts, but when the TSAB's guns came into question, even if the ship wasn't outright destroyed with one shot, it was still severely damaged; and no one wanted to fight an opponent like that. TSAB ships could end fights just by being there.

Even though these ships were only frigates and smaller, and even though it wasn't the main gun, only a small turret on the side, that cannon's potential couldn't be estimated. But from the camera's view, Craig could see a slight grayish purple glow forming on the tip of the gun; for better or worse, within seconds they would know how powerful of a gun this was.

"HARD TO PORT! Get us the hell outta here!"

There was another burst of yelling on the bridge, or maybe his attention was too focused on the TSAB ships and the first bit hadn't ended, Crag wasn't sure, but then it faded a little bit, seeming to die down as the crew became engaged with their tasks. And then slowly, painfully slow, the ship started to turn to the left.

Unfortunately, it was not turning or moving fast enough; another ship, this one smaller, or possibly just further away, the video footage's quality was making it hard to tell, must have zeroed their guns in on the freighter. This time a sparkling red mixed with a black started to form, but before Craig or the crew could deal with that, the first ship fired.

A large crescent shaped mass of grayish purple energy flew out, the tails trailing well behind it; it was like some kind of curved energy blade.

Craig winced, he knew what that was, at least to some extent, no one in the Allied States fully understood exactly how that weapon worked, but they had a general idea. There was a main core in the center that fed energy out into the half circle shape, then that energy got carried back around and reabsorbed from behind. It was an incredibly long range weapon, and incredibly good at destroying energy defenses, the rotating energy would grind through shields and barriers alike, the Energy Wave keeping itself sustained by recycling its own power and leeching it from its target. Against physical things, it was just an average attack, which for the TSAB, still made it deadly. Single shots, if uninterrupted, could bring down the defenses of even battleships; however, that was unlikely, a ship could disrupt the Wave by shooting it with their own weapons, or to a lesser extent, increasing the size of their own barriers to push it back. So, while there were ways to stop it, Craig was pretty sure that the smuggling ship lacked those abilities, they would have to dodge it, or hope that the TSAB's targeting systems were having a bad day.

"TO PORT! Fire maneuvering thrusters! Bring us behind the rocks!"

The camera kept turning, picking up more speed as the Energy Wave closed the distance, then, the camera was pointed too far away and Craig couldn't see what was happening, but he knew that in a few seconds the Wave would reach the ship, either the video would stop, or he would see the shot go past.

As it turned out, it was more of a combination of the two; he only caught a slight glimpse of the Wave as it sailed past before the camera spun around like crazy, again.

"DAMAGE REPORT!"

"Cap'n it took of the starboard wing and damaged the engine, we're outta control!"

"Attempt to stabilize the ship. Bring us about."

"We're…we're drifting into the rocks… WE'RE GONNA HIT THE ROCKS!"

"HOLY HELL! BRACE FOR-"

The captain was cut off by a loud banging as the ship careened out of control and into the tunnel wall. The ship was battered by hundreds of tiny asteroids, tiny being subjective, some of them were as large as a full grown man, but they were nothing compared to the larger ones that were the size of some small ships. The rattling was soon accompanied by other sounds; the screeching sound of metal tearing and a few periodic loud crunching sounds. Above the all the noise, the captain tried in vain to call out orders and bring order to the confusion.

"SHOOT THE BIGGER ONES AWAY WITH THE CANNON. BRING THE ENGINE TO A FULL STOP!"

It seemed someone on the ship was as competent as its captain, another flurry of navy blue bolts started flying out in every which way, some missing completely, others impacting the large stones, destroying them or pushing them away. For a second or two, it seemed to be working well, but then a loud grinding sound echoed throughout the ship and an asteroid the size of a small dropship bounced out from behind the camera, abruptly bringing an end to the energy fire.

Not only did the rock somehow disable the guns, it also pushed the ship down, changing its heading. Now, a much larger asteroid, this one the size of a cruiser, maybe even bigger, was right in front of the freighter's camera. The captain yelled something, but over the din of other panicked screams and the sound of the ship being battered to pieces, Craig couldn't make it out.

They hit the side and then skidded across the surface for a half second before it smashed into a small ledge. There was a singled loud bang followed by a crunching sound, and then the camera went dead.

Craig was annoyed, he would be lying if he said that this video hadn't upset him, and it really hadn't served any purpose, all he had watched was the last moments of some very unfortunate criminals. However, before he could voice his annoyance, the Vice-President whispered something from her position at the front.

"It's not over yet, they get the camera fixed in a second."

Her voice was quite, but seemed normal, as if she was commenting on the weather, and not the deaths of some random people.

However, she was right; the camera came back on, showing a fuzzy picture of the large asteroid, the freighter apparently resting on the surface of the giant stone. Some… piece of the freighter had broken off and was lightly spinning just a few feet off of the side; Craig really wasn't sure what it was, it was far to smashed to be recognizable with his level of expertise.

"Gah, that hurt like hell. Can I get a report?"

That sounded like the captain, the microphone's quality, unlike the camera's, was only slightly reduced in the crash, but the captain did sound kind of nasally.

"Damnit Mikey, don't make me wait on this report, my ship is wrecked and, I think my nose is broken."

Broken nose, that would explain the difference in voice.

"Sir, Mikey is dead."

"Oh. Are you sure?"

"Yeah, his head is… I am sure."

"Hell. Well your ok right? Give me a report. Lily, see if we can get moving again."

"Uh, sir, Lily is dead too… um, so is Meztion, and I can't tell, but Chrizolx might be too."

"Great. Just give me a report."

"Um, sure. We have lots of hull breeches, I think deck four was torn open, the computer is failing, so is life support on the rest of the ship, the bridge is on backup, jump drive is offline, but we do still have some engine power, but I am not sure if-"

The unchanging view of the asteroid surface along with the less frantic and more somber conversations had lulled Craig into a more relaxed state. He did know that the TSAB ships were still out there, and that they wouldn't leave the freighter alive, but he had temporarily forgotten about them.

Forgotten about them right until he almost jump out of his chair as the view of the asteroid exploded into action. If it wasn't for the ambient light shed from the burning iridium, Craig might not have ever seen them, but hundreds of tiny black orbs shot across the screen, digging into the surrounding asteroids before exploding into nearly invisible black shockwaves. The large asteroid's surface was torn apart and with a loud strained groaning the freighter was knocked free and sent adrift again.

"Sir, the Structural Integrity Field is failing, the ship is going to break apart."

There was a long drawn out pause where the crewman was waiting for a response that lead Craig to think that the captain might have been killed in that last attack, but he, if nothing else, was a resilient man and soon answered.

"Ok. Ok, time to abandon ship then, tell the crew to get to the escape-"

"Sir, the escape pods are… were on deck four."

"Uggg, fine, I knew I should have retired instead of doing this. Then how are communications? We still have them?"

"We have short range communications up, but the long range Line Transmitter is down."

"Good, transmit all sensor readings into the relay, maybe someone can use them."

"Aye Sir… It's done, I set up a link to send all new data out too. Now what?"

The captain choked out a tired sounding laugh that turned into a gurgle as he gagged on the blood from his broken nose.

"Heh, no weapons, no defenses, structural integrity it too low to even move the ship; we could surrender-"

"Sir, I've been broadcasting a surrender message since we were on the asteroid. No response."

"As I was saying, we could surrender, but the rumors are the TSAB refuses to talk. So let's take a bet, what kills us first, the TSAB or will the integrity field fail. Loser buys drinks in the afterlife."

"Sir, the field is going to fail in less than thirty seconds."

"So that's your bet, then I am going with the TSAB shooting us."

…

"…Sir, I think one of the ships is getting ready to fire again."

"Time until the field fails?"

"About twenty seconds."

"Ha, I win. Drinks are on you."

"Sir, I meant to mention this earlier, but I am an atheist, so I won't be going to the afterlife with you."

"That's a dirty way to get out of a bet."

"Sorry Sir."

"Yeah, its whatever."

"The ship is firing sir."

"Great… You know, I was gonna retire after this. Found a nice neutral outworld planet, warm all year round. Already purchased the property, right on the beach, doesn't that sound nice?"

"It does Sir."

"Yeah, it does doesn't it? I already put a down payment with a contractor to start building a house. Was planning on having a small farm, live simple and the like. With the money I got doing smuggling runs, I could live comfortably out there until I died, and then still have some. Yeah, woulda had a nice little rustic house there on the beach, farm in the back, it woulda been real nice. I woulda invited all you guys out once in a while too."

"I would have brought a house warming gift for you, a nice potted plant perhaps."

"Yeah, that woulda been nice, you've always been good at that stuff."

"It's a talent of mine."

"Yeah it is, you know, I was going to proposing to Cindy, you know, that girl from that club on Ern? She was real sweet, always giving the crew extra food and drink."

"Sir, I heard the evacuation didn't go over that well."

"Hmm, yeah I heard that too, but I just had a gut feeling that she made it out alright. Sailors Intuition, isn't that what it was called?"

"Something like that Sir."

"Woulda married her and moved out to that beach, course, I woulda needed to pick her up first, she'd be hard to find, but I would"

"I am sure you would Sir."

"Damn right I would, but yeah, I would pick her up, take her to my new house and make a home, no, make a life out of it. I'd have two, maybe three kids, at least one girl and boy. Wanna have a son to take over the farm when I get too old, and I always wanted to have a daughter, she'd be my little princess. I would have scared the shit out of any of her boyfriends. Then, me and Cindy would grow old, we'd be grandparents, my little beach house would grow, we'd build on, everyone would live-"

Just like that, the video cut out. Just a black screen and silence, absolute dead silence.

Craig squirmed in his seat, he was… uncomfortable. Craig would have never described himself as "Compassionate," he was after all himself, and other people, were to put it bluntly, not him. If he was being honest with himself, he would say that he was a little cold and callus, he only focused on himself and what he wanted. Sure, he acted friendly, and was likeable, but that was just an act. He only cared about others when it affected him, he knew what he was like, he didn't make excuses to himself, it was who he was and he wasn't upset about that.

However, this short video, the last minutes of an entire crew, a civilian crew, people with hopes and dreams, elicited a response from him, an emotional response, and one he couldn't make out fully. He didn't know exactly what he was feeling, he couldn't name it, but he didn't like it. He squirmed and fidgeted, but still, it persisted.

The dim lights return to their previous settings, and welcoming any distraction from his inner turmoil, Craig scanned the faces of the others around the table. The Admirals and Generals all seemed unaffected, their faces giving nothing away; whether that was because the genuinely were not moved by the video, or because they were keeping their emotions in check, Craig wasn't sure.

The civilian leadership, they were a mixed bag. Deputy Secretary Hamash was still looking un-phased, and Craig suspected that Deputy Secretary Hemming had already viewed the movie in private, that or he was too busy analyzing the data to feel anything about it. Secretary of Industry Doran looked as if he was about to be ill, but Craig suspected that that had nothing to do with the video. Secretary Doran had been looking more and more sick in the last few days, and even during the meeting, his condition had continued to look worse.

Out of all of the people, the senators seemed to have been the most affected by the video. Senator Shrieb's hands were white as he tightly clenched his chair's armrests, he was pushed all the way back into his chair as if he was recoiling from the screen. Senator Paun was leaning forward, towards the screen, giving off an appearance of intense attention that Craig almost believed, but his eyes were dull and unfocused; he was clearly lost in thought and his brow was covered in a light sheen of sweat. House Leader Toren was looking between his superiors, looking for direction. If there was one person who had less human emotion and empathy than Craig, it was probably him.

There was one person who seemed to have the same amount of emotion as him though, Senator _Evina _Holyhand was scanning faces just like he was. Her face was a little paler than usual, but otherwise she looked mostly ok, but when their eyes meet for a moment, she immediately turned away.

"Well that's all of the video we got from the freighter, it also had some sensor readings, but they were limited and didn't show anything we didn't already know."

Craig turned to see that Vice-President Howl had regained her position at the head of the table, around her sat Deputy Prime Minister Ofenmier and Secretary of State Van-Heirden. All of them sat back, or stood, in a relaxed fashion, as if they hadn't even watched the video, and they all had slight smirks on their faces; a slight look of…triumph?

Yes, that was exactly what it was, and Craig was impressed with their masterful stroke that they just pulled off there. That video had no intelligence value, the ships were models that they had encountered before, the weapons had all been observed, there was nothing new. So then why watch it? Apparently to strike at the senators.

That video wasn't like what the various news agencies were showing around, it wasn't chosen for its sensationalism, it was just average people getting murdered by the TSAB. It couldn't be ignored. And like Craig, the senators had yet to fully internalize the situation, they cast blame, made excuse, and lied to themselves that they could somehow still win, all the while their very actions weakened the ASN's ability to fight. The video had scored a hit on them just as it had Craig, forcing them to see the war for what it was, not a war, but a purge of the Allied States.

Now, if they would take that lesson to heart, that would be best, and that was probably what the Vice- President and her two subordinates wanted. But if instead, the senators continued to do as they already had, then if nothing else this video would be the one retaliation that they had made, the one point where they could strike back. It was very well played.

Craig just wished he hadn't been caught in the crossfire.

"Each of your offices will get a copy of that so you can go over it. Due to the freighter's nature as a smuggling ship, this is technically a case for Deputy Secretary Hamash. Since it is an active case until it passes through the courts, we can't release any important parts to the press, so keep a lid on it for now."

She removed video screen from the holographic display and brought her bulleted list from before back up.

"Then, moving on, I guess we should mention the fleet we picked up between Divina Prime and the Farsford Research Facilities. As you can see on the map, the fleet is currently located about nineteen dimensional miles away, it is about a day's travel time, give or take an hour or two, but they are currently moving much slower than that. At current speed, they will reach one of the two planets in closer to three to four days."

"Excuse me, I am not familiar with the Farsford Research Facility, would they have anything that would warrant an attack over Divina Prime? The TSAB usually goes after more densely populated systems first, which would indicate that their destination is Divina."

"May I?"

The Vice-President gave her a nod and then sat back down, leaving the front open for the Secretary of State who promptly moved in to fill the vacancy.

"The Farsford Research Facility is classified as a long range sensor station, and at one point, that's what it was. However, after the Allied States expanded beyond it, it's sensors no longer served any useful purpose, and the base was sold. The new owners significantly upgraded the station and formally turned it into a research institute. They are privately funded and their research has lead to numerous new devices, spells, and other things. They sell the rights to other research groups and corporations, so their name is never attached to anything, however, they are almost solely responsible for many military pieces of equipment, including our Shield Splicer Missiles, the Obsidian class light cruisers, along with the Marble Class Assault tanks, they also designed the Mana to Mass converting couplings used in some devices. Also, they continued work on their sensor systems and then made a prototype long-range scrying device."

"Long range scrying? Interesting. What is the range on that? The current ones in use by the Marines have a range of about ten kilometers, right?"

"You're close Admiral More, the ones we use have two settings, a normal mode that can view out to six kilometers, and a long range mode with less mobility and a smaller field of vision that views out to fourteen kilometers."

"Ah, thank you for the correction General Chen, scrying has too little effective range to be used within the navy, which is why we use traditional sensors, but the TSAB blocks those sensors, but I would assume a scrying spell would work fine, so what range does this prototype have?"

"Its max range is currently at thirty two dimensional miles."

"What?"

That single word was echoed by almost all of the military types in the room, even Vice-Admiral Kunieda seemed surprised.

"It can only maintain the spell for about five seconds at that range, but at ranges of between thirty and twenty dimensional miles, it can sustain itself for over an hour. It does require all of the stations power, so it is not a practical device for just about anything else. And it does in fact work through the scrambling field, and while they have no data to back it up, logic dictates that it would work within the Black Out Field."

"So then, I take it they scryed on the TSAB? So they know what it can do?"

"Not exactly, they only used it within its more sustainable range, so the TSAB doesn't know about its max effective range. Divina Prime is just outside of its range, but the TSAB shouldn't know that. They might be planning to attack the Research Facility to prevent us from learning about their ground war capabilities."

"So then, we don't know what is the TSAB's target…in fact, the Research Facility wouldn't require ground action, so they could attack that first, finish up quickly, and then change course. What about their fleet? If we scryed on it we should have some details."

"Yes, we do have information on that. The fleet is comprised of approximately six hundred ships, exact numbers were difficult to ascertain due to the nature of a scry. They picked up forty one ships that are of dreadnaught size, eighty plus battleships and about the same number of battle cruisers. There is an even spread of cruisers, both light and heavy, and destroyers, and like usual, there are less than the average amount of frigates and corvettes. There are the same ship designs that we have seen in the past…"

Craig tuned it out. It wasn't a conversation for him, it was military tactics and such. And it was a good time for him to come to grips with his…whatever it was. Who knew how long they would talk, and if his memory served, his report about TSAB technology and that autopsy report would be next.

And those reports, at least the Tech ones, would be useless and a waste of time. They hadn't recovered much equipment from the TSAB, and the little that they did, wasn't anything important. Perhaps if they had much more time, they might find something, but time was a luxury they didn't have. And the little bit of salvage they collected didn't compare to what the TSAB was really capable of, they weird new weapons, super powered ships, they had nothing but guesses and estimates for that.

Some of it was enlightening, at least to someone like Craig, but he suspected that the report would do nothing for the military, or even the government, it was more like idle curiosity on his part.

The autopsy report however, was much more enlightening, and possibly useful. The two human bodies extracted from the bomber fit in line with traditional pilots, at least at first. The larger, a male, was only 5'1 and the smaller, a female, was barely 4'8; they were both fully grown too. Space based strike craft are a complicated issue; to be able to maneuver and to have enough fire power to actually be useful, size becomes an issue; if everything is too big, the ship gets a larger targeting profile, if it is too small, the effectiveness drops. Usually, certain things are left out, armor is barely there, barriers are weak if they are there at all, and shields are never used. Field generators are almost exclusively used for structural integrity. But still, space is always hard to come by, so the pilots are selected both on ability, and on stature. Pilots of the small size of the two TSAB bodies aren't unheard of, but they are rare.

So as far as their basic physical attributes go, their height and size wasn't that big of a deal, it was their weight that brought up issues; the male, who was missing an arm, weighed in at 496 lbs, and the female was 601 lbs, the extra weight stemmed from their extensive use of cybernetics.

And not just regular cybernetics, which aren't that uncommon. The Allied States has been using cybernetics as prosthetics for centuries, and the Irlians use basic Cybernetic enhancements on soldiers and pilots. The heighted awareness, processing, and reflexes are invaluable to pilots, but the cybernetics have negative side effects and where never widely used by the ASN. However, the Irlian's strike craft are some of the best because of it.

But the TSAB pilots cybernetics went way beyond what the Irlians do, they were both closer to 50% machine, and it wasn't simple enhancement cybernetics either, they were fully specialized Combat Cyborgs. The metallic parts were made of some hyper dense alloy that resisted impacts and energy to great degrees, it also seemed to amplify magic.

Which was the next issue, both pilots were mages, likely around B class. They were both good enough to be in the Striker forces, but instead they were put into a lightly armored bomber, it didn't make sense.

Not only that, but cybernetics tend to interfere with mana production and use, full Combat Cyborgs like the pilots would only be able to use a fraction of their magical potential. The autopsy showed that the cybernetics were installed starting at birth, and weren't added later due to an injury, so why would the TSAB build Combat Cyborgs out of fully functional Mages?

And, not only that, the report showed that unlike the Irlian's failed attempts at creating full Combat Cyborgs, there was no degradation of the brain. The Irlians had succeeded in fusing the amount and quality of cybernetic parts into a human to make a Combat Cyborg, but the subject's minds would stop developing, creating robot like humans with the mind of a child that were prone to instability and mental break downs. The TSAB pilots showed fully developed mental capacity.

And then, just as an afterthought, the doctors had mentioned that the two pilots were related. Despite being of different races, they had enough DNA markers in common that the researchers could say that they were definitely related, a few steps beyond cousins, but still related. As an small joke, one of the doctors came up with the probability that two distantly related people would end up being pilot and gunner on the same bomber; it came to 1 in 59,325,550,347,298, how exactly they came up with that, Craig hadn't the slightest idea. The scientist had then wrote that with those odds, it being a coincidence was almost impossible, and that it had to have been a conscious decision, but the researchers could find no reason to place related people together like that.

While the dead pilots had been a wealth of information, they had not answered any questions, in fact, the opposite was true, they had only brought up more. Why were they related? How had the TSAB perfected Combat Cyborgs,? Why had the made them out of mages? Why had they violated inter-dimensional law to do so? Why had they taken Mage, Combat Cyborgs and made them into bomber pilots?

So many questions and so few answers, and would they ever find out? Would they live long enough to at least unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the TSAB? Probably not, the Allied States would be finished within the week, and Craig, and everyone else would be dead, or possibly refugees. But where would they go? The Irlians? Even if they would take them in, they would be the next to fall to the TSAB, if the ASN couldn't hold them off, then neither could the IIN. The Free Trade Union was in the same situation, and they were on the other side of the TSAB, the little bit of boarder that they shared had been conquered by the TSAB weeks ago. The left Neutral Planets, which the TSAB also attacked, or the Belkan Hegemony, and not even on his most optimistic days would Craig think that they would ever help the Allied States, or anyone else for that matter. Even with the TSAB attacking everything in sight, the Belkans had refused to intervene. And Craig wasn't even sure if they could stand against the TSAB in the first place, they certainly could in the past, but now, with this new TSAB, this TSAB that greatly surpassed its former self, could they even win while fighting a defensive war? Perhaps they were using the ASN, IIN and MN to feel out the TSAB while they prepared their own fleets.

Diplomacy was not an option, they couldn't win by themselves, and no one would help, all they could do was die fighting. There really was no other option, at least not that Craig could see. And so his thoughts wandered, back to the freighter and the captain's last minutes.

That man, the captain of his own freighter, would have been considered successful. He had his own ship, a successful smuggling operation, apparently enough money to build a dream house; he had risen as far as he could, but he wanted to give it all up. His last moments were spent talking about how he wanted to get married, have a family, and then just…exist? What did he want out of life then? How could he just call it quits and then retire? How did he know when to call it quits? What was he thinking during his life? During his death?

Craig couldn't understand it, and that upset him. To Craig, life was a pursuit of pleasure, he was wealthy, coming from a well established family, but staying there had bored him, he wanted to do things, be someone, he wanted enjoyment and excitement. He ate fine foods and drank fine wines, he went to parties and clubs, he played games and sports, he was always seeking out new and exciting thrills, and he spent most of his time with women.

He had been married four times and divorced the same amount. He had done it for the excitement, for the fun of the ceremony, for the party, especially the bachelor party, and also for the honeymoon, that was another good part. But eventually it got old, the women became boring, he would wander, fights would happen, and then it would all end. Four times.

He never planned on having a family, he didn't want kids, although some of the women did. He didn't want companionship, or her commitment, or looking back, he didn't even want love.

So then, why had he done it? Was it really only for the excitement? Or did he really want something from it? Did he subconsciously seek family, or was he just lying to himself the who time? But his mind kept going back to that one time, that one woman who had been…more than the others? He had viewed her as an equal, they had been passionate, but had they been in love? Was he capable of that? He had respected her, and she was one of the few people he would speak frankly too, but was that all? Could she have had real meaning to him? Perhaps, but he wasn't sure, and it had ended with her, differently than the others, and on good terms too…maybe they could…try again? But now there was no time, it was too late.

But he kept dwelling on it, going back. Maybe if he tried, maybe something could happen. It might be better than dying alone, to die with someone he considered an equal if nothing else.

But if she had moved on, then what? He had only been considering his own feelings and wants, but what about her? What if she wanted nothing more to do with him? That was a common trait to women he had been with in the past, they all frequently despised him afterwards, and he couldn't really blame them. Looking back, he had used them. Of course, he knew what he was doing back then and was unremorseful, and he still was, but he could at least feel for them now.

Or was this only stress, making him think weird thoughts? Having his civilization die around him caused a unique type of stress that few throughout history have ever experienced. That, compounded by his increased workload of being the Acting Secretary of Defense, his loss of leisure time, and perhaps that video was just the final straw to push him over the edge. Maybe if he just took the next few hours and just relaxed; got himself a good night's sleep, ate something actually healthy instead of just coffee and snacks, and then if he just some time to just laze around his current quarters.

Then he considered the opposite, what if doing that didn't help, what if he really had a problem here, then what would he do?

This thought process was maddening, he was making no progress as he just ran around in circles, and that headache was not helping matters. Regardless of whether or not it would help his current predicament, he would need to relax and wind down for a while.

But for the love of God, any of them, when would this meeting finally wrap up? Before, he just really hadn't wanted to be here, now he wanted to do something else, and that was making this so much more obnoxious.

And on that note, he had been out of it again for a while and he was now unsure what was being discussed, he really needed to get some sleep. A quick look around revealed that they seemed to be on the same topic, discussing the defense of Divina Prime, or lack of, they were planning on retreating the small group of ships in system, leaving almost all of the ten billion people there to fend for themselves.

While the Admirals and Generals were busy discussing strategy and logistics with the remainder of the civilian leadership, the Senators were being left out. Senator Paun was trying to include himself, but it was clear that he was only making a half hearted effort. Senator Shrieb was sitting back in his chair seemingly lost in thought while the House Leader kept looking to him for direction. And Senator _Evina _Holyhand was…looking confused at the terminal installed in front of her seat?

Craig watched as she started to chew on her lip while lightly pushing buttons, she was becoming more and more focused on her task. What could she be finding so interesting on the terminal? It was only a tiny screen with four buttons, Craig wasn't even sure what it was capable of, he had only used it sparingly, instead using the larger Holographic display at the head of the room, but whatever it was, it had consumed her entire attention.

Craig looked down at his own display in an effort to figure out what she was looking at, and at first, found nothing. Then he noticed a little flashing red light off to the side, which he immediately pushed. The little screen flickered to life, showing his mailbox, apparently he had an incoming transmission. He scrolled through the details, and became more and more confused himself; the Sender was not listed, but it was directed him by name, and it appeared to be an open holo-transmission. No one had any reason to send him a holo-transmission; he got all of his reports via actual live reports, if someone did need to talk to him, face to face, there was no reason to use the much more expensive and complicated Holo Array instead of a normal video call. Plus, he had told his aides to not connect any calls to him while he was in the meeting, he had been getting reports and making a few calls during the recess, so no one should have needed to talk to him this badly.

This was…confusing, he couldn't take the call right now, and it would be unusual to get up and leave, not only that, but there weren't many rooms that had the equipment to handle a Holo-transmission, which begged the question, why would someone send him one?

Across the table, Senator _Evina_ Holyhand was still poking at her screen, and now Craig noticed that Deputy Secretary Hemming was also. Both the Senator, and Deputy Secretary seemed to have the same idea at the same time, both turned to their neighbors, Senator Shrieb and Chief Gold, and then pointed to their screens, then both of the new people looked down at their screens, expressions of confusion clouding their faces, and began poking at the screens too.

This was getting ridiculous, was everyone was getting the same transmission at once? If someone felt the need to contact all of them at once, then it must be important, so without even bothering to see who was talking, Craig interrupted and voiced his concerns.

"Sorry to interrupt you there, but someone is sending me a Holo-transmission, and it looks like some of you are getting messages too."

The Deputy Prime Minister had apparently been speaking at the time, and looked slightly offended that Craig had interrupted him mid sentence, however, at Craig's words, he looked down at his small screen, poked something, and then frowned before responding.

"It seems I have a message too, Madame Vice-President and Mrs. Secretary of State, I take it you do too?"

All around the table, heads nodded an affirmative, not only the Vice-President and Secretary of State, but also the Generals and Admirals around the table.

"Well, I guess I will connect it through the main display then."

The Deputy Prime Minister fiddled with the screen for a second before the current screen, a list of defensive points on Divina Prime, disappeared and was replaced by a screen of static. The static faded in and out for a second, shapes forming and then slipping out of focus, then it abruptly stopped.

Standing at the head of the table, on top of the table, was a holographic display of a woman. The image was tinted with a grayish blue, and she was slightly blurry, but enough was visible that the details could be clearly seen.

She had shoulder length reddish brown hair that hung free, her face was unmarked by and blemishes of scars, but everything else was hidden by the uniform that she was wearing. To Craig, it appeared to be a dress uniform, used for formal occasions, she wore black pants that ended in similarly black boots, a jacket made of some kind of velvety synthetic material, and across her shoulders was a small black cape with a silver lining. On the collar of the cape, Craig could see four silver eight pointed stars, marking her as a full ranked Admiral, a rank that he noted was higher than any of the people in the room.

Craig wasn't exactly sure what he had been expecting, but this didn't seem to be it. The young Admiral, possibly in her early twenties, stood mostly still as she surveyed the room. On his side of the table, everyone seemed to share his slight confusion, but on the other side, the Senators and Admirals were all showing a unique combination of fear, surprise and awe.

Then the woman turned and looked over his side of the table, and Craig understood the stupor that had taken hold of the others. Craig had still been looking at her face, so when she turned his gaze traveled down, and stopped on the emblem that was pinned into the other side of her collar, an orange crosshair on a black background. He recognized that from somewhere, but before he could connect the dots, he gaze traveled further down, to her left shoulder, where another emblem was sewed into her shirt. He didn't immediately recognize it, in fact, he likely had never seen it before, but he could read, and the words, "Time-Space Administration Bureau," were clearly visible.

The TSAB Admiral bent slightly at the waist, dropping her head about a foot into a shallow bow before straitening herself up.

"What a joyous occasion this is, I am Admiral Amber Lynnisis Sanjuyon Gallardo, commander of 6th Fleet's 2nd division. I am here n behalf f the TSAB to offer surrender terms to the esteemed leaders of the Allied States."

After she had finished her introduction, she had taken on a more relaxed stance, dropping her arms down to her sides and planting her feet a little more apart. Craig was still shocked to have a TSAB admiral in the room; they had after all refused every attempt at communication, and usually killed whatever was trying it. But he was getting over it quickly enough, and had already recovered enough to spot some details he hadn't noticed before, for instance, the fact that she wore a black glove on her left hand, and that the hand in question was slightly larger than the other, a difference that Craig noticed extended all the way up the arm.

"Terms for surrender? Don't you think you're being a tad presumptuous?"

She turned around fully to face the Vice-President who had just spoken, and Craig discovered another interesting fact, her glove had a device built into it, this Admiral was also a Mage.

"Presumptuous? Are you under the assumption that you can still win?"

Before the Vice-President could shoot back, she was stopped by the hand of the Secretary of State gently pulling her back. The two exchanged looks before the former continued on in her stead.

"You said you are here to offer surrender? Then what are your conditions?"

"Thank you, I am happy to see someone here is more level headed."

She turned and observed everyone at the table again before continue on.

"We request an unconditional surrender from the Allied States government and military. All military assets were be confiscated and then destroyed, as will all space going vessels and anything with a Dimensional Jump Drive, or a connected to the Dimensional Seas or Lines. You will cede all parts of your territory, except one of your choice. You may then hand pick up to 100,000 citizens to occupy this territory."

The Admiral had kept a straight face the entire time she relayed the surrender terms, and she seemed to genuinely think that they were good.

"Also, you will hand over the Battle Station at Vol IV."

"I am sorry, but for what reason do you need that Battle Station? I would like to hope that it doesn't involve the Linear Cannon."

After the fall of the Belkan home world, their Empire, already under the strain of centuries of conquest and decades of civil war, split into pieces, and those pieces eventually became the current Dimensional powers. The Irlians, who had only recently been conquered and who still attempted to resist, quickly tried to reassert themselves, however their battles had left them badly weekend and it would be almost five hundred years until they regained anything close to what they were before.

While the Irlian's had already existed, the Allied States were the first new government that ever achieved anything to form, but they had their own hardships. The Allied States were located in one of the more stable parts of the Ancient Belkan Empire, and miraculously, the civil war passed right over them. So they started with a good foundation and infrastructure, but they had almost no military assets and no military leaders.

While the Saint King Unification War raged on, and the Allied States tried to build a place for themselves and the Irlians tried to rebuild, a nameless Belkan general defected, taking his forces and ships away from the fighting and into the outer reaches where he formed the Belkan Hegemony. From there he united the far flung remainders of the Ancient Belkan Empire and then set out to re-conquer his homeland. The Belkan Hegemony slowly retook scattered pieces of Ancient Belka and as the Unification War began to die down; his forces came into contact with the Irlians for the first time.

The new Irlian Empire was unable to halt their advance, and slowly began losing territory, and eventually, they were forced back far enough the Belkan Hegemony finally reached the territory of the Allied States.

But even with the Allied States and Irlian Empire combined force, they were still unable to beat them back, and they slowly lost more and more territory.

At some point, the Allied States Navy began construction of a massive Battle Station, but instead of making it a purely defensive structure, they decided to build it around a giant Linear Cannon of Belkan design.

The exact specifics of the gun are classified, and even Craig didn't know exactly how it worked, mass weapons being illegal and the knowledge of how to make them being deeply restricted, but he knew that the Cannon was able to fire shells through the Dimensional Seas, and if rumors were to be counted on, they had the capacity to shatter a planet with a single shot.

The Cannon was completed too late to be used in the war, before it was brought online the Allied States and the Irlians made a new ally that came to their aid, the TSAB. With their ships built entirely around long range powerful energy attacks, their single small fleet of ships laid waste to the attacking Hegemony forces. While their small fleet controlled the Seas, their ground forces made almost entirely of Mages, using the new Mid-Childan system devastated the Ballan armies of knights.

The Belkan Hegemony would have eventually overpowered them, but with the Battle Station finally online, and the Irlians and Allied States able to rebuild while the TSAB bought time, the Hegemony was forced to accept a peace proposal for an armistice.

Or so the history books had taught him, Craig hadn't really been the greatest student, he was busy pursing _other_ _interests_ at the time, however, that part had been what would eventually lead him to a career in politics. To unite to fight a common enemy was such an exciting concept.

Unfortunately, things hadn't worked out quite how he had planned, although, he could definitely say it was exciting.

That said, if the TSAB was willing to attempt to negotiate in an effort to get the Linear Cannon, that meant two things; one, that they intended to attack the Belkan Hegemony, or at least they intended the Belkans to attack them; and two, that they thought they needed the Cannon to be able to fight them.

"I'll be frank, my main objective is to capture the Linear Cannon intact, and while I am confident that we could beat you, I am not confident that the Cannon won't get damaged. I, however, can go about my mission in any way that I so choose, and I have the authority to offer you these terms, and I can assure you, they are very generous."

Craig Couldn't help himself and laughed out loud, a sort of light chuckle that he quickly tried to hide, but it was too late, the TSAB Admiral fixed her gaze on him, and he noticed that almost everyone else in the room did too.

"I am sorry, Admiral… what was it again? Admiral Amber Lynnesis Sanjuyon Gallardo? That's a mouthful. Anyway, about your terms, I believe they are… absurd? Yeah, that's the word I am looking for, absurd."

Craig had spoken out of turn, and had obviously antagonized the Admiral during a diplomatic meeting, one that he wasn't technically able to speak in; but the terms were ludicrous, no one would take them. As he looked around the table, most of his colleague were giving him nods of approval, only the Senators seemed annoyed, but even that was more subdued than normal.

And as for the TSAB Admiral with the unusually long and weird name, she had a more predatory look on her face, but it there was also gratitude there, as if she wasn't prepared to attack him, but thankful of his set up, which Craig was not at all happy with.

"As I said before, I think the terms I outlined are very generous, however, I can allow some negotiations, but some things are inflexible. I could allow multiple territories as long as they are small, I had originally intended to leave you a single planet, but if you would be willing to use smaller bases, you could keep several of them. I could also increase the amount of population you can keep, maybe up to 150,000. We could discuses other aspects too."

She hadn't attacked, nor had she revealed anything else, but the small smirk that she wore was still there, as if she was still waiting to pounce. Craig wanted to respond, to see if he could counter whatever unknown verbal attack she was planning, but she had redirected the conversation into a direction that he really couldn't follow, terms for surrender was not something he could weigh in on, he could voice his opinion on the deal as a whole, but hammering out specifics was a place that was just out of reach for a mere Deputy Secretary.

He was pleased to see that the one person who could maneuver words as slyly as he could, Vice-Admiral Kunieda had decided to speak up. Unfortunately, as she spoke, he realized that she was leading right into the trap, whatever it may be that the Admiral had set up.

"You say we can "Keep" some population, I assume that to mean that we will be able to govern them? Then I need to ask, what will happen to the others?"

Come to think of it, that was an excellent question. The TSAB might make them prisoners of war, but Craig doubted that had the capacity to maintain the remaining 100 billion people in the Allied States. That left two possible options, they would make them into basically slave labor, or they would press them into military service and use them as the first line of attack against the Belkans.

Craig fully expected to hear some rhetorical political crap that would be a sugary way of saying one of his two options. She would never flat out say that they would become human shields or slaves, it would be some drawn out thing about how they would help the greater good and yadda yadda yadda.

So when her small smirk extended into a full grin that just oozed with evil intent, Craig suppressed an involuntary shudder.

"We will purify them."

She said that with a kind of religious fervor, the same way a priest talks about god. And what did "Purify" mean? Craig didn't expect religious dogma from the Admiral, in fact, it was farthest from his mind. The TSAB had always allowed freedom of religion, and despite the presences of the Saint Church, they, like the Allied States, Irlian Empire, Free Trade Union, and come to think of it, even the Belkan Hegemony, had had no state religion. But considering there completely unexplained and rapid collapse and then re-emergence, it was possible that some kind of religious cult had grown out of them, but it was unexpected.

"By "Purify them," you mean…?"

The Vice-Admiral seemed horrified by the conversation, like she had reached some conclusion that the rest hadn't yet.

"Obviously I mean that we would eradicate them."

The Vice-Admiral sunk back into her chair, a look of complete sorrow and defeat on her face. The rest seemed to be more in shock, or lost in confusion, two feeling that Craig was sharing. She couldn't possibly mean that the TSAB would kill almost all of the remaining one hundred billion people in the Allied States; that was…insane.

"You would kill…everyone? You must be joking."

The Vice-Admiral had uncharacteristically given up and instead, the Vice-President had taken over. She seemed to have more bite to her now, a form of almost righteous anger spurring her on.

"Every one? As in every person? No, not at all. We would kill everything. Every animal, every plant, every living thing on all of your remaining planets and bases, we would exterminate."

Now, shock was the predominate emotion on everyone's face. Was she bluffing? Was it just a threat? Craig could understand what they were thinking, it was just too much to fully grasp. But Craig saw the TSAB admirals face, watched her look around as if surveying an insect colony, like she was watching something so far underneath her that while it might be interesting, it was of no concern, and he knew that she only spoke the truth, it was no idle threat, just a statement of what was to come.

A few of the Generals and Admirals managed to spurt out some simple words, oddly enough, Rear-Admiral Condel leading them on.

"Really people, you're getting way too upset about this-"

She paused, and that grin grew even wider, the big reveal was coming, and it was going to be massive.

"-It's what we've been doing all along-"

Every one stopped talking over each other and just stared at her dumbfounded. She let out a small laugh that was more of a girlish giggle, not at all what Craig expected from a butcher like this.

"-or did you not know? HA, you didn't? What is your intelligence service doing? Geez-"

Complete and absolute dead silence greeted her from all around the room.

"-Did you think we were invading those planets? No, not at all. We wouldn't waste our ground forces on those planets, we just leveled them from orbit."

The room exploded into Chaos.


	6. Chapter 6

Notes.

Couple of things here again.

1st You'll notice that for the last chapter and this one, the glossary has not been updated. This is because I am currently restructuring it, or possibly just dropping it. Time will tell. Its been pointed out that I do infact explain most things in the story, so I figure things will be ok without it.

2nd This is another large chapter, weighing in at 21,000 words. A few people have mentioned that the chapters are overly large, and that that also slows down the updating process.

Starting next chapter, the new chapters will be roughly half this ones size, and instead of one giant plotline moving, I will split things up. There will be natural points where a reader could stop reading and then come back later without being forced to just quit in the middle.

3rd There is a minor change to last chapter in regards to the TSAB admirals position. She used to be comander of 6th fleet's 2nd division. She is now **Sub-Commander of 6****th**** fleet.**

4th Timeline. My glossary has a timeline, but I want to put a quicker version here, it might help with some confusion.

2000- Jewel Seed Incident. Season 1

2001-Book of Darkness Incident. Season 2

2003-The Mobile Section 2 Incident. Part one of my story.

2007-The norse Cluster Incident. Part two of my Story

2010- The Jail Scaglietti incident. Season 3

2012-The Ares Incident. Part three of my story.

2024- the overthrowing and collapse of the Old TSAB. Part four of my Story

2045- the TSAB universal War

So, in 2024, 21 years after where my story currently is, or 14 years after season three, something happens to the TSAB that overthrows their government, and then they get locked in within the Blackout Field. They stay hidden for 21 years, long enough that the rest of the inter-dimensional soiceties have assumed that they were destroyed.

5th Reviews. I would like to thank NoblessOblige and drinker for the reviews. I've send messages to NoblessOblige so I don't need to respond here, but I would like to respond real quick to Drinker.

As the time line above shows, the point where the TSAB turns evil, happens in the future, 14 years after season three. Then TSAB isn't doing evil for the save of evil, they actually have a real reason, and they also have a very shaky justification for doing so.

Rest Assured, the reasons for the TSAB's trasnformation will be explained, just not for a while.

Chapter 6

January 19th, Uminari City, Earth, 17:05 UDT

It had been a long day, full of ups and downs. The mission to recover the Lost Logia had gone well enough, with the exception being at the end when it exploded into filth. From there it had gone to the first, mostly disastrous attempt at a birthday party, to a second, and this time much better attempt.

And now, Fate Testarossa-Harlaown, found herself sitting in her kitchen, remnants of her birthday party still visible, while Admiral Markly explained how a transport ship had crashed into the earth, and almost destroyed half of the planet.

"The outpost's sensors saw it strike the satellite and change course. Right as it was about to impact the planet, it activated a large Sealed Space Barrier. The barrier prevented damage and then the Ovila broke apart."

Admiral Winston Markly leaned back into the wooden chair and sipped at his freshly served tea. He seemed to ponder something for a minute before looking up with a curious expression on his face.

"Chamomile tea, with a hint of orange, no its more like, tangerine, and then about a spoonful of honey? Interesting, this is quite good."

Admiral Lindy…Mother, looked please that he enjoyed her…unique taste in teas. While serving everyone else there mugs, she responded to the aging Admiral.

"I am glad you like it. For some reason, my crew seems to think I have bad taste."

"I am sure it is nothing to be worried about. But, moving back to the matter at hand…"

He trailed off as he took another sip of the tea, and Fate took this time to try to analyze him again. Something about him was…she wasn't sure. She wanted to say wrong, but that was the right word. Nothing in particular seemed off, and he had done nothing to arouse any kind of suspicions, but still, she felt…something.

Fate had dealt with people who were like coiled springs, a threat of violence always there ready to burst into actions, she had met people who she was certain had never spoken a word of truth in front of her, but this Admiral was none of those things. She sensed no deception, no malice, no anger, no danger, but despite all of that, his aura seemed unnatural.

She would need to talk to Nanoha and Hayate about this; perhaps they could lay her fears to rest, or at the very least, confirm them.

"We contacted the ship's owners, Verzi-Tech Industries to learn about the cargo contents, and they were not very forth coming with details. I even mentioned a potential criminal investigation to get them to share details, but they were still very quiet about the contents, claiming it was a corporate confidentiality issue. It wasn't until I threatened to send a team of enforcers to go through their data that the finally caved in and sent me a cargo manifest. They also asked me to hold off on investigating the crash site until a representative of theirs arrives."

"Oh? And do you plan to do so?"

The two admirals shared a look at that, and then both chuckled to themselves.

"Of course not. I would have ignored them regardless of any other factors; however, the shipping invoice they sent me was cause for concern."

"How so?"

Admiral Lindy and Admiral Markly had gotten along just fine since they had been introduced. They seemed to share a lot in common, had the same views on many topics, and both were very dedicated to their jobs. They were like two old friends who hadn't seen each other for years. Unfortunately, that left very little for anyone else to add into the conversation. Fate had asked questions here and there, as had Nanoha and Hayate, but for the most part it was the two admirals who had done all of the talking.

"It seems that the transport was carrying some prototype mech infantry that were equipped with-"

"Excuse me, what are "Mech Infantry?" I am not familiar with that term."

Hayate had politely asked her questions, but like every time one of the girls had spoke, the two Admirals seemed surprised, as if they had forgot there were others in the room.

"Oh my, I should have explained that in more detail. You are a practitioner of Ancient Belkan magic right? And not many people have access to the technology to create them, but simply put, Mech infantry are mechanized constructs. There was a young Mage, about thirty years back; she made great strides in mass production of their control systems and power cores. I believe her name was… ah yes, Precia Testarossa. She was quite gifted."

Fate flinched at the mention of her biological mother's name. No one had brought her up since her trial had ended, and she had attempted to put that part of her life behind her. But those scars were still there, and the mere mention of her name when she was off guard was enough to cause a mild panic in Fate.

But she didn't want to worry her new mother or her friends, especially Nanoha, who was discreetly observing her out of the corner of her eyes.

Fate-Chan…

It's OK, I'm fine.

Fate refused to allow Nanoha to know just how shaken she had become and instead focused on the Admiral, and looked straight into his eyes. The gazes locked for a second, his deep blue orbs seemed to bore right into her, and then just like that, it was over and he looked away, continuing his explanation of mech infantry.

"But I digress, the transport was carrying some prototypes that were designed to have better AI and more battlefield options. Supposedly the transport was caring four different models, the only ones that were functional. Unfortunately, my people couldn't find any trace of them at the crash site. They were likely ejected from the transport, and were probably destroyed, but we can't allow them to fall into the hands of the natives, even if they are in pieces. And, although the odds are slim we also can't ignore the possibility that one or more of them might be partialy operational."

"So then, you would like to borrow our assets to search for the missing Mech Infantry?"

"Yes, exactly. The Terra landed about thirty local miles off of the coast and is assisting in the salvage operation, and all of my crew is tied up there. I can't spare a recon team to search for the Mechs considering time is an issue; we need to clean up the crash before the natives find it. Also, you are all familiar with the area; your expertise will come in handy."

"Very well, Admiral Markly, it would be our pleasure to help you in this endeavor."

The two Admirals stood and shook hands to seal their deal.

"I am glad to have your assistance."

"Umm, excuse me."

Again, and like every other time, the two Admirals seemed surprised to hear someone else speak. Both of them were already out of the chairs and in the middle of leaving the kitchen when Nanoha spoke up.

"If the ship crashed into a satellite, wouldn't Earth already know about it?"

Admiral Markly gave a hearty chuckle at that.

"Off course they do, that is why time is an issue. In regards to the satellite, I believe another nation, the Americans, released a statement saying it was a meteorite."

"Oh…"

Nanoha seemed deep in thought for a second.

"So then the U.S. knows what it was?"

"Hmm, probably to a certain extent, not that it was a space faring transport running out of control, but atleast that it wasn't a natural occurrence. However, a few of my people are taking care of that. They wiped the computer databases and destroyed any other records."

"What about the people who were working when it happened? Couldn't they spread rumors?"

"That wont happened, another team is convincing them that it is in the best interests to be quiet."

-Page-

January 19th, San Diego Suburbs, 17:04 UDT

He was falling, falling through a black inky expanse at speeds he couldn't even comprehend. But there was nothing to mark his progress, just that cold and sticky blackness that wrapped around him. So he continued to fall, tumbling out of control as he endlessly plummeted to the ground.

Then the blackness was abruptly replaced with blinding light and he clamped his eyes shut.

When he finally peeled back one eye, he found himself in a classroom, it at first seemed to be a college lecture hall, but he realized he was sitting in a desks, an elementary school's desk, a little folded piece of paper with his name written in blue crayon marked it as his.

He was alone in the classroom, the other desks, and there were thousands of them, were all empty. He attempted to stand and look around, but he was belted into the chair and couldn't move.

"THE TEACHER IS HERE, ALL RISE."

A booming voice shot out all across the room, originating from no single point. When it spoke, he had felt compelled to listen and tired to stand, but again, the belt prevented him.

Then, of all people, his mother walked into the class room, went right up to the podium and began shuffling papers. She stopped and looked straight at him, a look of disdain on her face.

"Why are you still sitting?"

The belts obviously, but for some reason he couldn't voice his thoughts and instead he just shrunk into his seat.

"I SAID, Why are you still sitting?"

"Aw come on you old bag, give it a rest, he's just a kid."

A new voice, this time from his side, and when he turned to look, he saw his father, sitting at another desk, drinking a bottle of whiskey.

"You stupid drunk, get out of my classroom."

And just like that, his father was gone, the bottle left to clatter on the floor.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

A banging, as if someone was hammering into wood echoed throughout the classroom. His mother ignored it, but when he looked for the source he noticed that he was no longer in the same classroom, now he was in a hallway. Lockers lined the walls, but there were no doors that led to rooms, and the hallway seemed to go on forever.

Then the lockers started to rattle, a great banging, all of them shaking at once, and over the racket another-

Knock, Knock, Knock.

-rang out.

In an effort to silence the lockers, which he was now convinced were crying, he attempted to open one, but they all were locked. Combination after combination were tried, all in vain. He spent an eternity trying the lockers, attempting any combination of numbers that he could think before finally, defeated, he gave up and punched the nearest locker.

Which promptly popped open. He explored the locker and found an old beat up math text book, and the crying temporarily stopped, temporarily. Once he had finished looking through the book, and finding nothing interesting, the crying resumed.

He punched another locker, and another, each time finding single things, a pair of gym shorts, an English essay, math homework, science work books, a pencil case; each time the crying would pause but then renew itself.

Knock, Knock, Knock

Finally, in frustration, he kicked one, as hard as he could. As pain blossomed through his foot, the locker popped open revealing a bunch of paper towels and something that was crying. He eagerly rummaged through the paper towels, anxious to find the source of the crying, hundreds of dirty pieces of recycled paper were pulled out, and then he found the source.

A singled severed head, which he recognized as his old 7th grade social studies teacher.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

His teacher looked up at him, wordlessly mouthing the words that he couldn't understand as a debilitating terror ran through him.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

The head strained its mouth, trying harder and harder to get through to him, and he now knew that the head was in fact talking, it was just a slight whisper that he couldn't hear over that infernal racket, the non-stop knocking.

Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock.

It was never ending.

Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock.

And increasing in intensity, encompassing the entire world. Everything he heard was that sound, everything he saw, tasted, smelt, and even felt, was all that knocking sound.

And with one finally knock, a loud bang, much louder than the rest, he jolted upward.

JJ Murphy shot forward, and tumbled out of bed, the memories of his dream fading into obscurity as his mind fully awoke. He was covered in sweat and gasping for breath, his two loose sheets were tangled across his legs.

Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock.

Just moments ago he had had no idea what the sound could possibly have been; now, he was completely sure that it was someone knocking on his door. A quick glance at his clock revealed that it was about 3:30, am. He had only gotten home about twenty minutes ago before he immediately passed out, the day's events had drained him dry.

Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock.

"Good God, I'll be there in a sec."

Someone was apparently about to break in his door, and since there was really only one possible explanation as to why, he wasn't really in all that much of a hurry. Twenty minutes of sleep was definitely not enough to refresh him, but due to the adrenalin from his nightmare, he was alert and aware, mostly.

JJ untangled himself from his sheets, decided that an undershirt and ruffled work pants were good enough, and then shuffled over to the door.

Knock, Knock, Knock, Kno-

"Dammit, I am at the door, stop hammering on it already."

The knocker got the message and stopped bashing at the door. With the racket they were making, the landlady would be having a cow, not that JJ really cared, the woman was way off her rocker.

JJ began the process of unlocking the door, which involved two chains, two dead bolts, one peg lock, and one more standard lock on the knob. This place was the only apartment that JJ had felt comfortable living in, it reminded him of his home when he was a kid, the poor little one to two room apartments that they had lived in. Sure, he hated that time from his life, and didn't really like his parents much either, but his cheap little houses had been his only refuge from harsh reality that had been his life.

So he was comfortable here, and genuinely liked the place, but it was still in a very bad neighborhood, and while crime was much higher than average, break-ins at this particular apartment building were rare. Despite that, JJ had a lot of expensive computer equipment in his room, his living room was dominated by a 52in plasma TV. Not being cautious in this situation was just inviting trouble, hence, the locks.

And the last lock was disengaged and JJ swung the door open, and came face to face with the expected man in a black Suit.

He was tall, taller than JJ at least, blond hair in a crew cut, sun glasses on even though dawn was still three or so hours away, and a newly pressed black suit. He was just about to start knocking on the door again.

"I said I was on my way, Christ. Wadda ya want?"

A typical government Suit, and there was absolutely no reason to be polite. He would dutifully do whatever his job was, and whether or not JJ acted like his best friend, or the biggest jerk ever, nothing would change. And really, this was all sorts of inconvenient.

"JJ Murphy?"

"Yup."

"Come with me."

"The hell? I just got to sleep. Its three am."

Instead of answering, he just stepped back and motioned for JJ to come through the door.

"Dammit, let me get changed first.

"There is no time. We need to move. Now."

"Fine, whatever."

This was ridiculous, some big wig had probably forgotten to ask some mundane and pointless question and was summoning him just to ask, "How confident are you in your poker skills?" But you can be rude to them, argue with them, but you cannot disobey the men in black Suits. So he put on a pair of beat up running shoes, grabbed his worn wind breaker, and followed the man out onto the 3rd floor deck.

JJ had been pretty sure that this was just going to lead to another round of questioning, they would cart him off somewhere and he would retell his story and that would be it.

His assessment changed when he walked out and saw the four soldiers, all in full combat gear, flak jackets, helmets, and big mean looking guns. They were all positioned around his door, or more likely, around the man in the Suit, and they all had their backs to him, as if they weren't focused on him at all.

"Cargo secured. Heading south to delta for extraction."

The Suit relayed that into his headset and then the soldiers closed in around and started moving down the deck towards the front of the complex. JJ was forced to move, otherwise they would have just trampled over him.

As they went down the deck, more and more of his neighbors started poking their heads out doors and windows, only to have rifles stuck in their faces until they back off. And the closer they got to the staircase at the end, the louder this weird rumbling sound got. JJ wasn't sure when he first noticed it, but at some point it had been there, a low rumbling, like a diesel truck makes when it's idling.

They turned around the bend and came to the little patio area that had a nice view of the courtyard, it was then that JJ realized he would have to move after this.

His land lady, the crazy old coot that she was, had redone part of the courtyard into a flower/vegetable garden, it was her pride and joy. Tomatoes, peppers, spices, sunflowers, roses, lilies, and so on. She had it all sectioned off; and she went crazy when ever any one so much as trespassed on it, let alone took a flower.

Currently, there was a Bradley armored fighting vehical parked there. Literally, right in the middle of the garden. Smashed vegetables and fruits were smeared across it's treads, and the source of that rumbling, was now apparently the tank's engine.

JJ also noticed a second tank out of the court yard, blocking one side of the road while the other was blocked by two humvees. Two more are the armored jeeps were positioned around another tank like vehicle, however, this one was lacking the turret.

And there were soldiers with guns _everywhere_. They were in the courtyard, in the road, across the street keeping bystanders back, on the decks and patios of the other buildings.

JJ numbly allowed his escort to lead him down the stairs and across the courtyard, he was dimly aware that his land lady was shrieking something about a security deposit, but he couldn't focus on it.

And then he was in front of the turret-less tank, or as he now realized, an armored personal carrier. A door on the side was opened and another man in the black Suit, this one with slightly gray hair stepped out.

"JJ Murphy?"

"Yeah…"

"Great. Get in. We need to get to Helix High for extraction."

The Suit stepped to the side and with one arm, motioned JJ to enter the APC, which he did with only the slightest hesitation.

He had been in a numb stupor before, but once inside, he finally grasped how large these things were. One would assume a tank is just slightly larger than a car, and if you were to assume that, you would be wrong. The APC was large enough to comfortably hold several people, which it was currently doing. As the Suit stepped in behind him and shut the door, JJ surveyed the room.

He countered two more Suits, both generic looking, and then in the front and back of the APC, stood two guards. The four soldiers were all armed to the teeth, and instead of the standard rifles that the other soldiers he had seen had been carrying, they were holding much bigger guns.

But he only noticed the suits and guards as an afterthought, he was more focused on the two other passengers. Off to the side, huddled in a corner sat Vinnie Decarlo, lightly crying, and sitting in the middle of the one row of chairs, was Harold Klein.

Harold, was like always, unmoved by events around him, but as for Vinnie, once he saw JJ enter, he shot up and ran over to him.

"JJ, thank God. No, no, no! They got you too! I bet they think we sold them out, they think we work for the Chinese. They think we instigated this whole thing somehow. JJ…they are going to make us _Disappear_, and I don't want to. What about my mother? If I _Disappear_ who will take care of her? She can't take care of herself anymore. My God…JJ what should we do?"

Vinnie was shooting his mouth off a mile a minute, panic rising within him more and more as he went on. JJ knew from experience that to try to reason with him in a logical manner would get them nowhere; and that was durring normal circumstances, this was way out of the ordinary. Instead of trying to calm him down, the best way was to offer one irrefutable point and let him dwell on that.

"Don't worry man, if they were going to make us _disappear,_ they would have done it more subtly. They just rolled up to my apartment building with tanks. If we stop showing up, do you really think nobody will connect being taken away in tanks with our disappearance?"

"But, but, but, what if they aren't thinking straight right now and don't realize it until after we _Disappear_? Then it will be too late."

The next thing to know about dealing with Vinnie when he is like this is to work within his delusions. JJ knew, again from prior experience, that you can't just tell him the whole idea is ridiculous, you need to focus on one specific point.

"The government makes people _Disappear_ all the time, they got this down to a science, and with the work we do, they probably have more than one scenario already prepared to get rid of us."

"Five actually."

Both JJ and Vinnie quickly shot looks at the Suit who had just spoken; JJ's more confused and surprised while Vinnie's was more horrified.

"Just joking, trying to lighten the mood and all."

He did seem to be joking, but not in an effort to lighten the mood, both of the Suits and even the guards were looking at Vinnie with annoyance, apparently he had been getting on their nerves.

"See? I don't want to D_isappear._"

"You won't, he was just joking, and even if he wasn't, I bet none of their plans involve making a spectacle like this."

Vinnie was about to respond immediately, but paused for a second. He seemed deep in thought, then he shook his head and was walking back to his chair when he suddenly spun back around.

"I got it! They are gonna put us on trial! We were just arrested! Oh my God, they are going to legally execute us, just like the Rosenbergs. Are we going to get the Chair? Or will it be a firing squad?"

Before JJ could come up with a rebuttal, which was looking unlikely, this last delusion was looking like it had the potential to become reality, he was distracted by someone clearing his throat off to the side.

JJ, Vinnie, and even Harold all turned to look at the Suit with the gray hair.

"Special Agent Nelson, CIA. That Joker is Special Agent Harris and the other is Special Agent Rowan. Please sit."

JJ and Vinnie both obediently sat, the Suit spoke in such a way that the thought of arguing didn't even cross their minds.

"OK, we will be reaching the La Mesa Springs Shopping Center for extraction in about five minutes, but before that, I want to talk."

"Excuse me. I am positive that I heard you saying the extraction point was Helix High when I was getting in."

JJ tried to think back, it was literally only a minute and a half ago, but he had been so flustered that he couldn't remember exactly, but, that schools name was ringing a bell..

"You are correct Mr/ Klien. I did say we would be using the schools stadium as an extraction point. That was a decoy. In the event that anyone planed to intercept us, we have laid a small ambush at the stadium. Instead we will be taking a more roundabout route and then will stop at the shopping center where another decoy convoy will continue on, we will then be extracted via helicopter in the parking lot."

"Don't you think this is a bit much? If you were concerned we were going to run, a single car and two to four people would have been enough. Harold's the only one close to being fit enough to make a run for it. And if you really thought we were going to make a break for it, and prepared something in advance, were the tanks really necessary?"

"Let me ask you a question in return. And it is absolutely imperative that you answer truthfully, but just in case…"

The suit stood up, reached into his jacket, and then withdrew his side arm, which he then aimed straight at JJ's face.

"If the incident from earlier had been something you set up, it would have required one of two things, either the cooperation of all of you, or, someone would need the expertise to alter the programming of all of the computers in your office. The only people out of your group with that level of knowledge, is you, JJ Murphy, and also Doug Emmett. Now, I can offer complete amnesty in the event that any you either altered programs, leaked information, or even noticed anything remotely suspicious. However, if anything had happened, then that would have almost certainly made Mr. Murphy here the ring leader, and I cannot offer the same pardon to him. If anything, and I mean anything, had happened, all blame will be placed on him, and I will shoot him right this second."

The interior of the APC was dark, only lit by red lights placed every foot or so along the walls. It was also warm and humid, and a low rumbled, obviously the engine, vibrated throughout every surface.

JJ was thankful for all of that; it helped hid the signs of his raising panic.

He knew without and doubt that he himself had not done anything wrong, knew that he was in no way responsible for the events of a few hours ago, but, he couldn't be sure of the others. Doug, he certainly had the capacity to pull it off; he was second only to JJ himself when it came to expertise. And it was also possible that the others could have been feeding his terminal incorrect information.

It was possible, but he had worked with these people long enough, known them long enough that he was confident, that he trusted them to not do that.

However, with a gun in his face, he was discovering that while he did trust them, he did not trust them quite this much. He was not willing to bet his life on that trust, but unfortunately, he seemed to have little choice in the matter.

"I… we didn't do anything wrong. I didn't do anything."

"I concur, we did our job as we should, nothing more and nothing less."

The Suit just swept his gaze between the three of them, stopping at each person in turn to stare at them. JJ really hoped that he would trust what they were saying, really, _Really _hoped.

Instead, he pulled the hammer back on his gun, cocking it and getting ready to fire.

"I don't know…"

"No, No, No, please don't shoot JJ, he is my only friend. Please no…"

"There will be innocent blood if you shoot that man."

Vinnie began to break down sobbing and Harold looked away, as if he couldn't bear to see JJ getting shot.

JJ agreed, he also couldn't bear the sight of himself getting shot; he wished he had the luxury of looking away too.

"Hmm… alright, you seem sincere enough. And honestly, we didn't think that that was the case."

The Suit gently released the gun's hammer and returned it back to the interior of his suit. Harold just looked back to where he had been focusing before, and Vinnie became a giddy mess.

And JJ just stumbled back into a chair and collapsed.

"Now. In your expert opinions, could this have been some kind of hoax, or computer attack meant to disguise something's true motives? We know that something was up there, whatever it was did in fact collide with and destroy Bsat-2a. But other than that, we know very little."

JJ had opinions on that matter, good ones, ones that he thought were well thought out, and he did want to share them. But when he tried, all he could get out was a gargled cough.

Surprisingly, while he was chocking back nervousness and trying his best to not do things that would require a new pair of pants, Harold just sat there silently while Vinnie spoke up.

"I…I don't know. I… don't remember it all that well… Maybe Laura or Doug did something, but I don't think JJ would have missed it."

"Then what do you think it could have been? A space shuttled? A missile? A meteor? An out of control derelict satellite?"

"I… Maybe one of those? I am not sure… ICBMS don't reach an orbit of anything near that, and if it came from earth, then there should be other ways to check for it."

"It is possible that it was an asteroid. Our receiving station doesn't monitor things out that far under normal circumstance, but a meteor of that size should have been picked up by a SST or GEODDS. It should have never gotten that close undetected."

"Yes… Harold is right, it should have been picked up some other way before that. But… if it was skipped over, it might have been a meteor."

The Suit ran his hand through his hair, seemingly lost in thought.

"OK, so maybe on the asteroid. What about an old abandoned satellite?"

"Umm… it's unlikely. We track those too, and even though we weren't exactly looking, we should be able to tell if a large enough one was missing for some reason… I think."

"Also, it would have to be a very large satellite. The object stayed intact after colliding with Bsat-2a. it would need to be very solid to not break apart also."

"So then, if, hypothetically speaking, if that section of space had been searched previously, and no approaching asteroids were found. And it had been searched afterward, and none of the old satellites were missing, and we have nothing to indicate anything was launched from the surface, then what would your opinions be?

JJ still wasn't sure if he could manage words at this point, but even if he could, he wouldn't have anything to say. Those _hypothetical_ assumptions had shot down all of his ideas. Vinnie seemed to be in the same situation, but Harold was looking kind of… JJ wasn't sure. Harold was hard to read at the best of times, and at this point in time, he could have been on fire and JJ would have had a hard time figuring out what he was thinking. Stress piled on top of no sleep and then potential death would do that to you.

"Anything?"

The Suit looked almost desperate, and then finally, Harold decided to speak up.

"Assuming what you said is true, then any possible, reasonable explanations are not valid. If so, we must then consider the unreasonable. In which case, I must suggest, that the unidentified, was in fact, an alien space craft."

It was amazing how Harold could suggest that with such a straight face. He seemed to honestly believe what he was saying, and that was only making it worse, if he had said it in any other way, they could have played it as a joke. If nothing else, JJ really hoped that Harold would leave it there, but of course, he didn't.

"If the object was not spotted beforehand, then it must not have come from that trajectory, in which case we have to assume that it was able to change its course. This coincides with its disappearance. The only possible explanations for that are that our monitoring system was compromised, or that the object itself did something. Even if we had just lost sight of it, there still should have been seismic activity from when it landed. Thus, we can conclude that the object did not crash, but instead landed, and that removes any possibility of it being a natural source, or an earth bound one."

It sounded so reasonable when said like that, it honest to god did, but it was still ridiculous. It just couldn't possibly be aliens. And even if it were, which there was no chance of it being, but even if, _if_ it were, they still should have picked up an alien space ship, the Space Surveillance Telescopes were just too good to miss that.

Plus, an alien space ship isn't the same as an asteroid, there would be heat signatures and such. An asteroid might be able to fly in, assuming it had an impossibly erratic pattern without being noticed. But a ship, with engines, could not.

Unless of course it had a cloaking field or warp engines or something like that. And that would change this from being _almost_ reasonable to _completely _unreasonable. Unfortunately, JJ suspected that that would be exactly what Harold suggested once the Suit offered any kind of contradictory point.

"So then, based off of what you just said, you believe it to be an alien space craft?"

"I do."

"What about you two? What do you think?"

"I, Uhhh, don't know… assuming what you said is true… then I guess what Harold said is possible. I, Uhhh, never liked science fiction."

Interesting, JJ would have pegged Vinnie as someone who watched nothing but science fiction and fantasy.

"Then what about you, Mr. Murphy?"

Truthfully, it did sound possible, in theory, but the idea of aliens was just too much.

"There has to be a more scientific explanation, that, or you're not giving us all of the important information."

JJ let that line fade away, and the Suit seemed to consider it for a second, and then he was about to speak up, but JJ, with more bite than even he thought he could muster, cut him off.

And you know what? I don't care if you are holding out information. Did you pull me out of my house just for this? You rolled up into my house in tanks to ask me _hypothetical _questions?"

"…Well, I guess I do owe you the truth… but, hold on, we are at the Shopping Center."

With perfect timing, right as he finished speaking, the APC rolled to a halt. JJ was mildly surprised, he hadn't even noticed that they had been moving, they must have started while the whole "Gun in Face" thing was happening.

"OK, the decoy team is moving out, we have about a five minute wait until the helicopters get here, and before they do, I need to run through what to expect and how we are handling this. But before that, I will answer your question."

"Sir, are you sure about this?"

The other Suit, the one who hadn't made a sound so far, spoke up, JJ had even forgotten they were there, both the Suits and the soldiers.

"It's fine. No harm in telling them."

"A'ght it's your call."

The Suit went back to doing nothing, for which JJ was semi grateful, his accent was sort of annoying.

"We didn't pick you up for another round of questioning. Well, that will happen, but it's not the main reason. Our main mission is to move you to a secure location, since you three are the only remaining records of the incident that happened."

JJ had no idea what he meant by that. There were protocols that prevented making hundreds of copies of classified things like this, but there should be some, they had been questioned for close to three hours before they had been allowed to go home.

"What exactly does that mean? There should be transcripts of our debriefing, and likely an audio recording."

"I didn't mean just the questioning, I meant _all_ records of the event."

"What?"

"About thirty minutes ago, a major cyber attack was launched against the SCC's computer networks. We initially believed it was a DDoS attack attempting to prevent use of the server's, as such, we attempted to disconnect them from the network. However, that was only the beginning. The DDoS attack prevented us from accessing the data, and then before we knew it, the servers were infiltrated by hostile hackers. All data, everything, was wiped from all of the SCC's servers, and also hundreds of personal work station computers. And not content to stop there, before we could figure out what was happening, the cyber attackers reconfigured the servers to disable their fans and cooling systems, and to greatly increase their energy consumption, we lost more than half of our computer hardware."

"Sir, ETA on the birds is four minutes."

"Great. While we were still reeling from the cyber attack and the collapse of the networks, unknown forces infiltrated SCC main command in Colorado and physically destroyed the backups. And at the same time, in the San Diego branch receiving station, an unexplained fire erupted, trapping several officials in one of the basement sub levels. In other words, every physical record of the events was destroyed in the fire, every electronic record was deleted in the cyber attack, and every witness was killed. That leaves only the five of you with your firsthand accounts."

It was like getting sucker punched in the jaw; JJ reeled from the shock. He couldn't grasp the situation, an unprecedented attack on an American military instillation, how could that be? And now, it was possible that he would be the next target? A possibility with a high enough probability that it warranted tanks as an escort, he couldn't believe that, he couldn't even accept it as a possible scenario.

And Harold and Vinnie weren't doing much better. Vinnie was alternating between hysterical sobbing, panicked hyperventilation, and that robotic lack of emotions that he showcased earlier during the incident. Harold, who always, always had that stoic look, now had his face scrunched up in concern.

"Oh, God, I don't want to die… please, I don't want to die. What about my mother? Is she OK? What if they go after her to get me! You need to save her, we need to go back and pick up Mother."

"Don't worry, another team is picking up your family members. Mr. Murphy, our records show you have no living relatives, and Mr. Klein, your only brother still lives in rural British Colombia, Canada, correct?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"Hmm, yeah, mom died about…eight years ago, and dad got shot during a robbery two years ago."

"JJ, I didn't know about your dad dying, how come you never said anything about it?"

"We, uhhh, don't… didn't talk to each other since I moved out, a year before mom died. There wasn't even a funeral. He got shot by a Wawa clerk while he was trying rob the register with a broken beer bottle; its sorta not the thing you tell your co-workers about."

"Oh…"

"Anyway… What about Doug and Laura, your picking them up too?"

JJ had dealt with Suits in the past, several times in fact, and he was always impressed with how emotionless they were. He liked trying to get a rise from them, he would always act rude, be disrespectful, and general just be a pain. He had never gotten a rise out of one, not once. Something about the black Suit and the sunglasses just seemed to "Turn" emotions off. It was amazing.

"We are currently unable to locate Ms. Laura Goodman, when our team reached her house on the Otay Ranch, they found that it had burnt down. They discovered a body in the wreckage, but we have not yet confirmed its identity."

"Sir, ETA is now three minutes."

"Alright. As for Mr. Emmett, we sent a convoy out to his condo, but right before we picked you up, we lost contact with that team."

Really, it was amazing how he could just say that, say that their coworkers, that their friends, had almost certainly been killed, and to say it in such a way as one would comment of the weather, was just amazing.

"So…Laura and Doug are… dead? How?"

"We didn't start moving until after the full scope of the cyber attack was known. By that point, we suspect that they stole your address information from your data files on one of the servers. It was just their misfortune, or your good fortune, that they went after Ms. Goodman and Mr. Emmett first. Also, they both could still be alive; we haven't confirmed the body and we did discover that Ms. Goodman had a fairly well stocked hunting closet, and we found several rifles spread throughout her house. And we don't know what exactly happened to the team that went to pick up Mr. Emmett. They radioed in that they had picked him up, but then we never heard from them again, it's possible that something is just jamming communications."

"Sir, ETA is ninety seconds."

"OK, deploy a perimeter guard."

"A'ight."

"OK now, I need to go over this, so no more questions until we get in the Bird's. Now, we are taking you out in a Chinook, they are big and sturdy and the fastest things we have. And we are going to have an escort of four Cobras, they fast and mean too. Now we have this parking lot down tight, and we sent the decoy out, so we don't think anything is going to happen, but it pays to be prepared. The cobras are going to stand guard while we transfer over, and then will take flanking positions as we leave."

"Sixty seconds."

"The Chinook is going to land as close as possible to this APC with its door facing us. Once that hatch opens, the soldiers go out and cover us, then, the rest of us go straight out and up the ramp, into the bird. Once there, strap yourselves in and then we are going to bail. The whole process should be less than fifteen seconds."

"Thirty Seconds!"

"Once on board, we are going to go straight to Munn Field at Camp Pendleton. From there we are going to transfer over to a C-10, and we will also drop the cobras and instead pick up some F-15s as an escort. Then we head straight to Pearl Harbor. It's a secure location and we can more easily monitor who is coming and going on an island versus a big city like this."

"Fifteen Seconds!"

"Alright, everyone got this? I want this to go quickly."

"Ten Seconds!"

"I, uhhh, I am sorta afraid of flying…"

"Five Seconds!"

"Well then, you are going to need to decide what your more afraid of, flight, or dying. If you choose flight, you can stay behind."

"Birds here. Opening hatch."

JJ hadn't noticed it before, since tank interiors was not one of his strong points, but the back wall of the APC was actually a giant door that could be lowered to make a ramp. As the door finally opened fully, JJ was treated to a view of some parking lot. Their APC seemed to be parked diagonally in the middle of a road, according to the Street sign, it was Acacia Ave. Out and to the left stood La Mesa Billiards, and a little to the right, across a small driveway, was Diamond Nails. There were other shops, small stores, a pizza place and a Chinese food joint, but JJ was too busy focused on the less mundane activity currently underway.

Activity such as soldiers running around with guns, that was distracting, or like the Humvee parked in the pizza place's outdoor patio area. Oh, and there was that Bradley parked next to the Billiards place, and on the topic of La Mesa Billiards, there was also a helicopter hovering over it, presumably a cobra. JJ wasn't sure what that type of helicopter was, his military vehicle knowledge coming from the games he played as a kid, but apparently Cobras were large flying boxes of guns and rockets, because every inch of that thing looked like it could kill him.

And there was also that other helicopter, this one obviously being the Chinook floating a foot or so off of the blacktop. It had two sets of rotating blades, and it was also the size of a small city bus. The gray behemoth had a back door open, just like the APC's, and the second it touched the ground, a group of soldiers all swarmed out.

"GO! GO! GO!"

From his APC, someone yelled, and then the four soldiers inside ran out and joined with the friends from the helicopter.

"Alright. Move. Get in the bird and sit down. Fast."

The Suit bellowed in an effort to be heard over the roaring of the spinning blades, but his words seemed to have no effect, JJ, and he assumed Vinnie and Harold too, all just stood transfixed for a second. It wasn't until Special Agent Rowan grabbed his arm and started pulling him out of the opening that his body started to move.

Outside of the APC, the world was a whirlwind. The roaring from the blades was so much louder, and the wind was blowing all over the place. People moved around, but he couldn't hear anything. It was a vortex of action, and he was at the center of it.

Special Agent Rowan was dragging him forward while mouthing something that JJ couldn't hear. Behind him, Special Agent Nelson was gently leading Harold while Special Agent Harris was physically pulling Vinnie out of the APC.

It was all happening in slow motion, the sound, the wind, everything, JJ was moving though tar, everything pulling him back, preventing him from moving.

Then it all abruptly stopped.

A shiver ran through his body, a shiver that had nothing to do with the cool temperature. Then the wind stopped, completely, nothing moved at all, and there was no sound. The entire world just froze.

And then it was over, the world re-accelerated back to normal and JJ stumbled forward, pulling Special Agent Rowan backwards. The Suit quickly grabbed hold of him and prevented him from falling, but they both stumbled into each other.

And then there was the Crack. Like a giant balloon popping, or maybe a gunshot, but deafeningly loud. It pierced through his ears and his hands reflexively went to cover them, which only served to pull Special Agent Rowan more off balance, and this time the two of them tumbled down into a heap.

JJ landed on the Suit and then rolled to his side. He was hurt, he bit his lip, his palms were torn up, and his knee was throbbing. But despite all of that, he noticed things. Things like the fact that all of the lights in all of the nearby buildings were off, or that despite that, everything seemed to be glowing a dull light grayish color that let him see fine, or that sky was a different color, instead of the inky black lit by the glow of hundreds of street lamps and other lights, now it was a lighter gray, and it appeared to be covered in some kind of film. He could almost tell that it had dimensions now.

In fact, as he looked out over the tops of the buildings, he noticed that at some point he was just unable to see further. He should have been able to spot some of the larger buildings, or the at least the glow of their lights, but he saw nothing; just that grayish membrane.

Then things exploded.

Literally.

One of the Cobras was off to the side, on the other side of the little shopping center. JJ only saw it as it careened into his vision; spinning wildly out of control. The entire tail part was missing, it was just not there anymore. Logically, that loud Crack must have had something to do with it, but JJ couldn't see anything that would have led to that.

And then the rotor blades caught onto the top of Diamond Nail's roof. The Cobra flipped over once in the air before smashing into the corner of the nail salon. Somewhere between flipping, crashing, and then sliding down the wall, the helicopter started exploding. Part of the building seemed to collapses as the burning husk of the attack helicopter smashed into the pizza place's patio, launching burning debris towards the assembled soldiers and their Humvee.

To JJ, the world seemed to be jumping forward through time, almost skipping like a scratched movie. He was viewing the world through a series of still screens. First the helicopter appeared, then it flipped, and then it hit the ground. The soldiers all stared, then they burst into action, running every which way, some jumping behind things and pointing their guns around, other trying to pull their injured colleagues away from the burning helicopter.

Another Crack shattered the air, followed closely by another explosion. JJ turned and saw another piece of burning wreckage partially on the sidewalk.

"COME ON. MOVE!"

While JJ had been distracted, Special Agent Rowan had managed to get back on his feet and was now trying to pull JJ back up. The Suit's Lip was split from the fall, and his black suit was roughed up and a little dirty, but otherwise he was fine. Behind him, JJ could see that Harold and Special Agent Nelson had gotten ahead of him, Harold was already going up the ramp to the helicopter while Nelson had his pistol out and was covering the entrance along with some soldiers. But Vinnie was nowhere to be seen, and Special Agent Harris was missing too.

But JJ didn't have time to wonder about the missing Suit and communications specialist, because his own escort Suit was now dragging him towards the helicopter. JJ tried to turn to him and tell him he could walk, but he was immediately covered in some kind of warm liquid that splashed across his face.

Whatever it was, it tasted like metal and was making JJ sick, he frantically spit it out of his mouth and tried to wipe it from his face. Once he could see he looked down and discovered that his arms and hands were covered in blood. The thick liquid was dripping off of him and soaking into his clothes.

JJ gasped and almost threw up before stumbling back, he looked over to where he thought the Suit was, only to find Special Agent Rowan laying face first on the ground, three baseball sized holes going through his chest and a pool of red expanding out from him.

JJ screamed, a high pitched shriek of terror.

But he went unnoticed over the chaos. A man wearing what looked like a black trench coat was standing on top of the Billiards place. He was huge, clearly over six feet, and in each of his arms, he held a machine gun. But they weren't normal guns, they looked more like the guns that were on the underside of the helicopters, or built into the tanks. The base of the guns extended well past the man's arms and were big and bulky, then the barrels extended almost three of four feet. The guns fired with a deep thumping sound that was more felt than heard, and they released ugly brownish gold shells that were currently ripping apart the pavement, and any unfortunate soldiers who happened to be standing there.

The barrage of dark gold drew everyone's attention, they now had an actual target to focus on. A group of nearby soldiers opened fire upon the man, and nothing happened. They kept firing, unloading their magazines, but the man was unphased by their attack. Nothing even indicated he had been hit, it was as if all of their shots were missing, or being blocked.

Then one of the soldiers sent an explosive towards him, through JJ's panic, he couldn't tell if it was a thrown grenade, or some kind of rocket launcher, but it didn't really matter, it hit him and then exploded, engulfing the roof in smoke as all of the nearby windows exploded outward.

But the smoke cleared, and the man was still there, still releasing a steady stream of golden fire. He mowed down the soldiers who had been firing at him, swept his gun across the parking lot once for good measure, and then turned his attention towards the APC, his guns ripping through its armor for a second before something important inside was hit and then the engine exploded. A great burst of fire shot out of the open hatch and engulfed the two soldiers who had been using it for cover, one second they were both their shooting towards the man, and the next they were both charred and on the ground. The APC's front then exploded outward, and part of the side collapsed inward, but the man kept firing into the ruined transport.

Until his foundation was destroyed. The other Bradley came around from somewhere behind the APC and opened fire with its cannon and some kind of machine gun mounted on the turret too. The machine gun couldn't be differentiated from the other gun fire, but the cannon let loose with a loud booming; its shots shattering the building, each one ripping chunks out of the masonry until the building finally couldn't handle it and collapsed. The man was caught up in the ruble and disappeared in the dust.

But the light tank kept firing, hammering round after round into the broken La Mesa Billiards, that was looking less and less like anything resembling a building.

JJ just sat there on the ground, covered in Special Agent Rowan's blood, and watched the tank. Each shot, and it was firing a lot of them, maybe one every second or so, but each shot released a little plume of smoke or dust, JJ wasn't sure. Then these shell casings would pop out from somewhere, they were like the size of his hand, and they would just pop out and bounce of the front and then just fall to the ground. There was a pile forming, scattered shells were all over the place, but most of them ended up near the left tread, perhaps because of how the turret was facing, but a lot of them bounced off and landed there, right next to that man who was standing there.

JJ did a double take, just a second ago no one was anywhere near the tank, he had been watching it intently, and now all of a sudden, someone was right next to it.

And the guy was way too weird looking. For one, he was wearing a skirt, or perhaps it was a kilt, but regardless, it was black, cut open in the front and back, and went down to his knees, below that, he was barefoot. Instead of a shirt, he wore some form of shoulder padding, straps wrapped around his chest and then connected to pieces of gray metal on his shoulders and right under his neck. But he had sleeves, no shirt of any form, but sleeves, long black sleeves that lead into the gloves he was wearing, metallic gloves that wrapped around his hands but left his fingers free. And on each of his knuckles, he had a two inch metal cylinder protruding out.

The weirdo had to have been from some kind of costume party, and although JJ was confused as to how he had gotten there in the first place, he expected him to turn and run, since that is what most people would do when confronted with a tank that was firing live ammunition.

Instead, the oddly dressed man spread his legs and crouched low, as if he was preparing to receive a tackle. Then he lightly reached his left arm out, keeping it about an inch away from the side of the tank while he pulled his other back until his hand was even with his hip. Then he snapped his left arm back while spinning his hip and brought his right out straight into a punch.

For the second that JJ saw the motion and realized that the man intended to punch a tank, he was bewildered. That was just no possible explanation for that. Then, as the man's fist made contact with the tank, JJ bewilderment persisted, just for a different reason.

The entire punch was incredibly compact and tight, even to JJ who knew next to nothing about fighting, he could tell that the man had been skilled, still, he was punching a tank, no amount of skill would help. But instead of watching him breaking his own wrist on solid steel, JJ was treated to seeing a perfectly circular shock wave of air shoot out from the impact point. And then the side of the tank just crumpled.

A foot deep crater about four feet across just erupted onto the side of the tank. The tank itself was lifted off of the ground and thrown sideways for a second, until a second shock wave shot out and pierced the center of the indention, and then blew out the other side. Machinery, ammo, armor, and what JJ really hoped wasn't a helmet, shot out of the newly formed opening. And then, still in the air, the tank rocked to the side, its gun still firing wildly, and then began to fall. Right as the tank fell, its right tread just lightly touching the ground, the entire thing tore itself apart as its internal parts exploded into a giant fireball.

The man stood there, unharmed by the inferno he had created. He seemed uninterested in the burning tank, and instead just turned away, right towards JJ. Once he caught sight of him, the two locked eyes for the briefest second, and in response, a predatory grin spread across the man's face. Before JJ could see anything more, his vision was blocked by a wall of black.

Special Agent Nelson skidded to a stop right beside him, his gun spewing bullets towards the man. They were only twenty feet away, at this range one of the bullets had to have hit, and JJ expected to see the man fall to the ground bleeding.

Instead, the man's hands became a blur, disappearing only to stop in place for a second as sparks shot out from his metal gloves as the bullets bounced harmlessly off of it.

"Dammit!"

Special Agent Nelson reached into his jacket to pull out another clip for his gun, but the man was faster. He pointed both of his hands, fists tightly clenched, towards the Suit. The metal cylinder's tips began to glow brown, and then JJ saw the man's mouth move. There was too much noise to hear what he was saying, but it definitely did something. From each of the four cylinders on each hand, eight lances of brown light shot out.

Agent Nelson, maybe due to some sixth sense, abandoned his attempt at reloading just as the glow had reached its peak. When the brown light shot out, he was midway into a dive across the ground.

The shots flew all over the place, and despite his dodge, some of them cut close, too close. One slashed through his right sleeve while another cut through his left leg, and while still another left a trail of blood across his cheek.

He was alive, but on the ground, and now unarmed. And the man was now approaching again, he still had one of his arms out, that brownish glow was back on his knuckles.

And then he was falling back. A low humming, or more like a buzzing had started up, and a line of ruby red bullets were flying out from the big transport helicopter. JJ turned to see Harold of all people behind this big rotating gun, a steady stream of bright red metal flying out. But the man wasn't dead, a sphere of light brown was around him, flashing darker and then lighter as the red bullets bounced off and tore apart the surrounding ground. Whatever the sphere around him was, it was blocking the bullets and keeping him alive, but he was also being pushed back, losing ground as the ground itself was destroyed under the attack.

"Come on! We need to move."

Special Agent Nelson was back up, and despite a small limp, was now trying to pull JJ towards the helicopter; and this time he didn't resist.

They had both moved a foot towards the helicopter when they stopped short, three bright neon green orbs of light, about the size of beach balls, lazily flew overhead. The floated over JJ and Special Agent Nelson, then looped around past the APC and then went right past the surprised soldiers and up the transport helicopter's ramp.

There was a moment's pause, and then the massive helicopter erupted into a giant neon green blast, and then was gone. Just gone, nothing at all remained, there was a perfectly smooth craters and the helicopter and soldiers were just not there anymore.

With a start, JJ realized that Harold had been there a second ago, and now he was gone too.

"Dammit! Harris, where are you? Harris?... Alright, Good Luck."

"Harold…where's Harold?"

"Come on, we can't stay here."

"Harold died. Where's Vinnie?"

"Mr. Decarlo is with Agent Harris, over by the cars. Now we need to move."

JJ looked out across the parking lot, across the crater that used to be a helicopter, used to be Harold, on the other side was a line of a few cars, normal ones. Behind one of them, a red SUV, JJ could just about make out a black humanoid shape, likely the Suit, and next to that, was a small person, who had to be Vinnie.

JJ breathed a sigh of relief as Agent Nelson started dragging him towards the burning piazza shop. All of the soldiers in this area were killed, either by the crashed helicopter, the man with the two guns, or the weird man that punched through a tank, who JJ noticed, was also missing.

They were navigating around the wrecked Cobra when the Billiards place seemed to explode. There was no actually explosion, no fire, no loud boom, but pieces of it violently erupted out and into the sky. And as the dust cleared and the debris still fell, the man in the black trench coat with the two guns stepped out, looking completely unharmed.

He didn't even wait for the building pieces to settle back down, he just immediately opened fire across the parking lot, towards the line of cars that was currently protecting Vinnie and his Suit. The hail of dirty gold shots practically went through the cars, sheering pieces off of them until something flammable was hit and then they would burst into flames.

The first car struck by the attack had just barely finished falling apart when Vinnie ran for it. He took off in dead sprint across Acacia avenue and towards the church on the other side. Special Agent Harris hesitated for a second, or perhaps he was just giving orders to the few soldiers around him, but then he shot of after Vinnie.

The soldier who remained all turned and fired upon the man at once, which only served to make him target them first, and after only a few shots, the soldiers were all dead.

But they bought time, Vine was already in the road and Special Agent Harris was close behind. The two dodge pieces of burning wreckage from another one of the helicopters and chunks of debris from the destroyed Pool Hall. To continue firing at them, the man with the guns would need to loop around the building, or climb over it, but by the time he did, they would have made their escape.

Special Agent Nelson pulled JJ into a corner by the cobra and motioned for five soldiers to come and join them, once they got there they began discussing something that JJ ignored, he was too focused on Vinnie's escape.

In a second or two they would reach the church and would be safe, well at least safer than they currently were, and there was nothing the man could do.

Or apparently there was. Instead of climbing through the ruble or going around it, he levitated straight up into the air. JJ felt his mouth fall open, and beside him, Special Agent Nelson stopped mid sentence and watched the sight silently.

Across the ruined parking lot, others who were dealing with their own issues were all able to spot the man too, but at least one entity managed to keep their wits about them and did something about it. The sole remaining Cobra, which had been staying on the outskirts of the lot, banked around and flew strait towards the man, its main gun pounding round after round into the man.

The man himself had just released the first of his shots towards Vinnie and the Suit when the metal shells would have slammed into him, but instead, a brownish gold sphere of light formed around him and blocked the bullets. They hit him hard enough, or they hit the barrier hard enough, that despite the fact he was floating in mid-air, he was pushed off balance and his own shots went wide, blasting holes across the road, blowing two palm trees apart before shattering one of the church's walls and then doing the same to the roof.

The pilot of the Cobra, who was showing way more adaptability to this situation that JJ thought was ordinary, quickly realized that the machine gun he was using was not going to cut it, the man was already righting himself and bringing one of his guns around and towards the helicopter. Instead of continuing on towards the man while firing the gun, the Cobra instead pulled up, bringing its nose towards the man, and then released every single remaining rocket or missile it had left.

Over twenty pieces of explosive streaked out towards the man, closed in on him, and then exploded.

JJ was knocked off of his feet and into Special Agent Nelson by the force of the explosions. All around him, any intact windows shattered and some lighter pieces of debris were thrown from the shock wave. Even over the existing inferno of the nearby fire, JJ could still feel a wall of heat from the explosions.

Just as Special Agent Harris was picking himself up off the of the road, and Vinnie had just made it into the church, the last remnants of fire and smoke receded from the air, revealing the original man and two others, all floating, and all unharmed.

One of them was short and stocky, but all muscle, he had a tight fitting gray jumpsuit pulled across his body, but the center of his chest and back was open. He had bulky black metal armor over his shoulders, elbows, knees, and feet, and was currently holding a huge ornate sledge hammer that was about the same length as his body, with the business end being the size of his chest, the top of which was currently glowing a light purple.

The second newcomer was also small, but he lacked the other's impressive physique. He was thin and lanky, but most of his body was hidden by a brown baggy robe that wrapped around his shoulders and from underneath he wore equally brown and baggy pants. This one, instead of a hammer or gun, seemed to be holding a completely ordinary staff, just a wooden stick.

Despite his normal looking appearance and the fact that he looked a lot like a mid-evil era monk, the was clearly the least ordinary out of all of them. Originating at the tips of his outstretched fingers, was a giant complex series of neon blue lights. The lights all formed a giant circle with squares in it, and the entire thing was moving. It had to be some kind of light projections, but it must have also had physical mass, because it seemed to have blocked all of the missiles that the Cobra had fired.

The Cobra, again showing remarkable adaptability, immediately gave up its attack and banked sharply to the side. Which turned out to be an excellent decision, right as it made its turn, the man in the robe made the weird floating design go away, but in its place, four large blue orbs appeared. The first streaked out and just barely missed the tail of the helicopter, while the second missed by a wide margin. Then, instead of releasing the next one right away, the monk seemed to be lining up his next shot.

Unfortunately, it made no difference, his last shots came closer, but still missed, instead slamming into what appeared to be an apartment building as the helicopter flew behind it and used it for cover.

The Cobra zipped out from behind the building, its machine gun firing wildly, and then it fired off two missiles that it had apparently kept in reserve. The monk chose to not rely on the light symbol for protection, instead he shot out more of the neon blue light and used them to intercept the missiles.

The helicopter, having realized that it was outclassed, banked again and attempted to run. It shot out over the road where Special Agent Harris was still taking cover, and then went to go over the church, but instead it stopped abruptly. Neon blue chains had appeared out of nowhere and lashed out towards the retreating aircraft, they wrapped around its tail and body, pulling it back and holding it in place.

Sadly, helicopters are not the kind of thing that can just be held in place like that. A loud shrieking sound, the sound of metal being torn apart, echoed across the lot, and then the helicopter's tail came loose. The Cobra spun madly out of control for a second, before it abruptly changed course and plummeted straight towards the ground, and straight towards Special Agent Harris.

The Suit saw the approaching helicopter, and tried to run, but he was nowhere near fast enough, and he was caught up in the explosions from the downed Cobra as it finally hit the ground.

And above the crash, the man with the hammer created one of those light symbols underneath himself while he floated in mid air. The glow on his hammer intensified until it was almost blinding. And then with a mighty swing, he hurled his hammer with all of his might, straight into the church.

For a second, JJ was able to see the hammer smashing through the roof, but then his sight was obscured when the entire building erupted into a massive pillar of purple light.

Before he could even shield himself from the blinding light, it had already faded, leaving behind nothing but a crater, every trace of the church was gone, only the sign outside reading "First Baptist Church La Mesa" remained.

Laura, and Doug, even Harold, and now Vinnie, it was too much for him to handle. But maybe, maybe they weren't all dead. Special Agent Nelson had said it back in the APC, they hadn't confirmed either of their deaths, so there was still hope. Harold, well, there wasn't much to say, maybe… JJ didn't fully understand how the green orbs had destroyed the transport helicopter, so perhaps it hadn't? But that didn't make sense, and JJ couldn't rely on that.

And then maybe Vinnie was alright too. How long had it been since he had gone into the church? Was it long enough for him to have run through it? Maybe he made it to a basement, that was a mostly reasonable choice, either hide in a safe spot or keep running, Vinnie should have done one of them. But what if he hadn't made it that far? What if there was no basement? What about a locked door? What if he tripped? No, he had to have made it. JJ had been distracted watching the helicopter, but enough time should have passed for him to have found a way out of the church. Plus, from his current vantage point, JJ couldn't really see the extent of the damage to the church, maybe the blast just looked larger than it was, also, it wasn't a traditional explosion at all, perhaps it was really weak.

Yeah, they were all alright, Vinnie was OK, Laura was OK, Doug was OK, and that guy on the transport probably only looked like Harold, it wasn't really him, so Harold was OK too. None of his coworkers, none his friends, were dead or hurt, they were all OK, Doug, Laura, Harold, Vinnie, they were all fine.

He had to believe that, because if they were dead, what would he do? So he just repeated that mantra over and over to himself.

"Laura is fine, Doug is Fine, Vinnie is fine, Harold is fine. They are all OK, they are all fine, they are all safe, it's OK, no one died, Laura is fine, Doug is fine-"

"SNAP OUT OF IT!"

The sound of flesh hitting flesh rang through JJ's ears, and he suddenly found himself sitting down, a stinging sensation going through his face. In front of him stood Special Agent Nelson, his hand raised and ready to deliver another blow, but when he saw that JJ was looking at him, he paused.

JJ slowly raised his hand and cupped the side of his mouth where he had apparently been hit and tried to figure out why he had been hit in the first place. He had been outside just a moment ago, but now he found himself in what appeared to be a Laundromat. Special Agent Harris was there, his trademark suit torn in several place, a trickle of blood coming out of his cheek, and a much larger splotch of blood was visible inside of his jacket. Behind him were three of the soldiers, all were focused less on him and more on the door that was in the corner. The door itself was barricaded, what looked like a washing machine was overturned in front of it.

"What…What happened?"

"Lots of things. You were out of it for a bit there. Are you good to move?"

"I…I don't know…maybe?"

JJ tried to stand, but found his legs were too shaky to fully support him, he started to fall but the Suit grabbed his arm and steadied him.

"Might have hit you too hard there. You OK?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"Good, now there is a trap door over there that leads into the backup generator room under this shopping center. The basement should be safer, any second they are just going to start blowing things up again. All the buildings are connected, so we will sneak out and try to hide. They are jamming our radio somehow, but if we can get far away we should be able to call for support. And if nothing else there is a police station nearby, I don't know why they haven't done anything, but if we can get there we can use a police car to get out. But first we got to get out of here alive."

To punctuate that statement, a line of brownish gold shots broke through the wall, catching one of the soldiers in the shoulder and blowing his arm off. He gave a scream and started to fall backwards, but another shot hit him in the chin and then he went silent.

The other soldiers all turned and fired their weapons into the wall that had been breached, even Special Agent Nelson squeezed of a few shots as he drug JJ over to the trap door.

The door itself was just a metal latch that lead to a ladder that extended down into a nearly pitch black room. JJ couldn't see anything down there, and it was very creepy, so he hesitated. The Suit, not having time to spare, just shoved him down the ladder. JJ stumbled and fell, rolling across the hard and damp floor before hitting something that seemed to be metallic. Special Agent Nelson then slid down the sides much more gracefully. Once down he pulled out a flashlight and illuminated the room, revealing the metallic object to be a water heater. Behind the Suit, one of the soldiers climbed down, and before shutting the hatch, he threw a grenade out and then firmly locked it.

As the blast form the grenade died down, JJ realized that the other soldier had been left upstairs, now there were only three of them, but he had no time to worry about it, Special Agent Nelson pulled him off of the floor and started dragging him towards another door.

They all entered the room, this one seemed like a simple storage room, boxes and crates were all over the place. The soldier closed and locked the door before pushing one of the crates in front of the door.

He was just dusting off his hands after moving the box into position when a thin piece of metal pierced through the door and into his shoulder. He stumbled back a step as the metal spike receded from his body and then opened fire with his gun, the large machine gun tracing a line of bullet holes through the door and wall. Even as he fell backwards onto the floor, he never stopped firing.

Special Agent Nelson ran up and fiddled with something on his back, then yanked a box off of his hip before turning back and running towards the next door, pulling JJ with him.

With the machine gun still going off in the next room, JJ couldn't hear what the Suit was saying, but it didn't matter. In front of them were two doors, one of which was locked. Special Agent Nelson shot at the knob, blowing the thing off, but the door must have been barred from the other side and still wouldn't open.

Instead they went towards the other door, another bullet to the knob and the door popped open, revealing a staircase going up. Special Agent Nelson growled out something that JJ couldn't here, but he didn't sound happy, and then they went up the stairs, JJ stumbling in the darkness.

They were half way up the stairs when the machine gun fire stopped and was replaced a moment later with quieter single shots.

"Good, that's his side arm, so that room hasn't been breached yet."

But by the time they reached the top of stairs, the gun fire had stopped. JJ really hoped that it was just the man reloading. Oddly enough, Special Agent Nelson pulled some kind of switch out of his pocket and hit a button, and then immediately after, a loud booming explosion rocked the building.

As the explosion died down and dust stopped falling from the cracks in the brick walls, the Suit dropped the trigger on to the ground and then shot open another door without even trying to unlock it.

They came out in a small storage closest, which they immediately left through another door, now they were in what looked like a large kitchen.

"Where are we?"

"Chinese food place, I think it was called China Wok Buffet."

"Oh…"

JJ watched as the Suit placed the box that he had taken from the soldier and set it down in front of the door, which he had already shut and locked.

"What's that?"

"Claymore, it's a mine. I doubt it will stop them, but it might slow them down."

With the claymore now propped up against a stack of bowls, Special Agent Nelson did something that JJ assumed turned it on, and then walked back over and started pulling JJ towards a door to the main dining area.

Once through the door, the Suit came to a dead stop.

"Damn"

"What?"

He didn't even need to ask, the problem was obvious. The Chinese food place had pulled down large metal grates over the windows and doors, they were all secured with very large padlocks that looked unbreakable.

Special Agent Nelson went over to one and pulled on it to no avail, he was about to shoot at it, but thought twice about it, and then stopped to survey the room.

"I can't break that with this gun, I'd need a rifle, so we can't go that way."

"Then…what do we do?"

Instead of answering, the Suit walked over to one of the tables and pulled the chair off of it. As he was making his way over to one of the buffet tables JJ noticed he was limping, and that the red spot on his shirt seemed larger. He set the chair up behind the buffet table and sat down on it, using the table to rest his arm on as he kept the gun trained on the door.

Another booming explosion rang out, this time the sound wasn't blocked by the sturdier basement walls, and JJ clapped his hands over his ears.

"Get over in that corner, stay away from me. Maybe if you're lucky, they will somehow break down one of the walls."

JJ did what he was told, running straight over to the corner, knocking chairs and tables over in his haste. He huddled up in a ball next to a fake potted plant and a small table, and then he just waited.

For a while, nothing seemed to happen, after the explosion nothing came running through the door, bullets didn't fly through the wall, nothing. He was starting to hope, ever so slightly, that maybe, the claymore had killed the pursuer.

Then he jumped, the floor was wobbling, like waves on the ocean, the entire floor was rocking back and forth. As he watched he noticed that it wasn't only the floor, but the tables, walls, and even ceiling were too.

JJ almost thought he was hallucinating, but Special Agent Nelson was looking around confused too.

Then the floor went even more crazy, tendrils of the building reached out, taking shape and moving throughout the air.

Then the tendrils, along with the changed buffet, all wrapped around Special Agent Nelson. He was bound in liquefied floor, pulled out of his chair and lifted off the ground.

And then the door was kicked open, and a newcomer walked through. He was deeply tanned and wore cargo shorts, bright red with a camouflage pattern on them. He wore a white tank top and had a shoulder high brown leather glove on his right arm. He also was holding a fencing saber.

"Nasty, sacrificing that soldier with a bomb like that. Shame too, cause it didn't really do much. It did make me think tho, so I caught that other mine you had behind that door. Real shame too, cause that one woulda caught me off guard too, and had some decent stopping power."

The man walked slowly walked up the Suit, every once in a while he would lightly slap chairs or tables out of the way with his sword. The sword was in all respects an average looking fencing sword, it would bend when he swung and everything, but when it hit the furniture, the chairs would be flung across the room, sliced into pieces.

"What, nothing to say?"

Special Agent Nelson struggled against his bonds, but made no progress.

"Ah that's right, what appears to be carpet is wrapped around your head right now, let's pull that back a bit."

The liquid building retracted from the Suit's face, allowing him to speak.

"Go to Hell."

"Great, good words. Shame, from where I come from we don't have a concept of afterlife. Some more superstitious people still believe in that, but in my opinion, they are all fools."

As he was talking, the building wrapped back around Special Agent Nelson, and seemed to constrict. The Suit struggled again, but to no avail. Then there was a sickening, crunching sound as his body was being crushed. Loud snaps echoed through the room as his arms and leg gave way under the pressure. A dripping sound started and then rapidly increased in intensity until I was a constant stream. With a final wet and soggy crunch followed by a loud splatter, the man stopped talking.

"Oh, you're dead, how sad. I did want to talk to you some more, and now I can't. This is why I hate dealing with non-Mages. With all your toys you are dangerous, but take them away and then you are all so frail."

The floor opened up, releasing the broken body of Special Agent Nelson, he hit the ground in the center of his own blood with a disgusting plop, and then was still. JJ couldn't bring himself to look, it was just too much, all of it was just too much.

"Well then, moving on. I guess I gotta deal with you."

He just couldn't deal with this anymore. Doug was missing, probably dead, Laura was just waiting on confirmation, Vinnie was most likely still in the church, and Harold disappeared right in front of him. They all died, all his friends, even his superiors in the station, and who knew how many others? All of those soldiers, the helicopters, tanks, the Suits, all dead.

"You OK man? I know I am here to kill you and all, but you're all shaky."

Then the SCC was infiltrated, their computers and servers were all destroyed. None of this should have been possible, none of it. How could they have been attack, how had every one died? It wasn't possible.

"You're crying man. You gotta pull it together, I don't like killing pathetic things like you. I mean, at least try to make a run for it."

Then he had a epiphany. It wasn't possible that the SCC was attacked like that, it was impossible for his friends to be dead. It couldn't have happened.

"Aw crap, now you've gone crazy, that giggling is creepy dude."

Logically, none of that could have happened. And logically, the events of the past… however long it's been, couldn't have happened either. People cannot punch holes though tanks, cannot fly, cannot create weird lights that block missiles, cannot block machine gun bullets, cannot survive collapsing buildings, cannot destroy entire churches. Yes, it all made sense, none of that was even remotely possible.

"Man, killing crazies is just as bad, but it's whatever."

And when he thought back, this all started in a dream anyway, he had just assumed that he had woken up when the banging on his door had started, but now, it was obvious, he never had woken up.

"Well I would ask for last words, it's an honor I reserve for targets, but well, I don't think you're going to say anything meaningful now."

"It's all a dream…"

"Yeah… sure, whatever. It's a dream man."

Logically, it had to be a dream, that was the only possible solution. In a few hours he would wake up, probably covered in sweat, and be done with this. He'd take a long hot shower, water bill be damned, and then he would forget about it by noon. Or maybe he would tell it to someone else, it had all been a very interesting dream. And I he was really lucky, perhaps he would wake to fine that the entire thing with the unidentified was also part of it, yeah, that would be best.

"Heh, it all just a dream, none of this is real."

JJ Murphy kept repeating that to himself over and over again, even as the thin sword pierced through his ribs and punctured his heart. He gargled a bit as the blood spilled from his mouth, and then he was dead.

-Page-

In the center of the ruined parking lot, four figures stood unconcerned about the surrounding carnage, another was off to the side, digging through the rubble.

"You gotta work on that, its powerful, but if you need to spend half an hour sorting through rubble looking for your device, it's sort of not worth it at that point."

The short and stocky one in the black jump suit answered without pausing his search.

"Yeah, this sucks. One of you could help me tho. Would finish up faster. And there isn't much else I can do with that spell. It's too unstable to use as a ranged spell, and if I use it up close, I get caught up in it."

"Once Poaroxis gets back, he'll dig it up in no time, just wait for him."

The man stopped his search and sat down on one of the larger chunks of rubble.

"We really did a number here. When's the clean up team coming along?"

"Not until we get back to the Terra, they can't spare any people. So don't get comfortable, once we get back we are working on the recovery effort too."

"That's just fantastic. That's exactly what I want to do now; recover a downed transport from who knows how many feet under the ocean."

"Stop complaining about it."

"Anyway, what about the support team? Are we just leaving them alone?"

"The clean up team will be here within minutes after our extractions, and they are bringing some of those new defense turrets. They'll be fine."

Silence resumed between the assembled mages. They all patiently waited, slowly walking around, kicking rubble out of their paths.

"Ok, Where is Poaroxis? This is taking him to long."

"Maybe he got killed?"

"That's not even funny.:

"Sure it was, Poaroxis is an idiot."

"Not what I meant. The part about him being dead was funny, the part where you implied that the locals could kill him, that wasn't"

"You don't think they could?"

"Course not. Science tech is no match for magic in the first place, and these guys were low end units from a low end dimension."

The big man in the trench coat hadn't spoken up, instead he had been focus on removing debris and dust from his device., but now he let loose with a loud hearty laugh.

"Haha, that was good. You spent the entire fight behind buildings on the outskirts sniping. Why don't you try blocking some of those tank shots? Even through the rubble, the ones that hit my barrier hurt."

"Yes, I have to agree, that rapid fire cannon was firing a remarkable amount of shots, in fact, if you hadn't taken out that…thing…helicopter, that's what they are called, if you hadn't taken that out, I might have died. Of course, if I hadn't been caught off guard, I would have used a shield instead of a barrier and would have been fine."

"Isn't that your fault for getting blindsided?"

"Hah, not at all. That tank surprised me, and so did the helicopter there at the end. There is no magical reaction to sense, so you don't know what's coming. And those shots all travel almost faster than the eye can see, I know the tank rounds did."

"I think you two were just taking this too lightly."

"I disagree."

The only other one who had remained silent, was the Monk, but he know broke his silence.

"The helicopter's sub weapon was decently powerful and could have easily pierced through a barrier. The missiles it fired do not compare to magic based weaponry, but they were still destructive. Also, you shouldn't forget, despite the fact we were ourselves rushing around and strapped for time, we did ambush them. And while we had knowledge of their systems, they knew nothing of what we could do. In a traditional fight, even against these units, they would have been a much more dangerous foe."

"I don't know, even if their weapons packed a punch, they were still way too frail. It's like they didn't even consider defense when they build these things. If their weapons really were that strong, then if they had fought themselves it would have been a slaughter."

"I think that's common on this planet. Defenses are too weak, so they rely on first hit kill weapons. There actually have a lot in common with our navy, big guns and weak shields."

The assembled mages all chucked at that.

"Yo guys, what's so funny?"

A new mage slipped out of the ground near the group, he just popped up through the broken pavement. He still had his barrier jacket up, but had since recalled his device back into storage form, the fencing saber now just a metal rod attached to his belt.

"Poaroxis, thank the stars, help me get Steel Smasher out from under here."

"You gotta work on that spell, or at least install some kinda recall function. "

"I've been trying to install more stabilizers on him, if I can make it into a short range attack it'll be fine."

"Yeah, but until then I gotta keep digging it out of the ground, now where is he?"

"He is three meters over from where I am standing and six more down."

With out responding, the mage summoned a light pink Mid-Childan array beneath his feet. Moments later, the ground three meters away turned to jelly. It pulsated for a second before a massive sledge hammer floated to the top and bounced out with a small "Pop" then the ground went back to normal as the weapon clattered to the ground.

"Steel Smasher! I missed you."

The short and stocky man ran forward, scooping his device up into his arms and giving the menacing looking hammer a big hug.

-As did I, your majesty.-

"You and your device are weird."

"Poaroxis, what are you eating?"

The monk's question diverted focus from the short man and onto to the new arrival, who was currently holding a bag and munching on its contents.

"Not too sure myself. The label said "Fortune Cookies" but they don't taste like normal ones. They are pretty good tho. Oh, and they have little papers in them that give advice I guess. See, this one says to embrace personal changes."

"What does that mean?"

"… I have no idea. I guess I should… I don't know, change my hair or something. Come to think of it, all of the other ones were kinda vague too."

"Not to interrupt, but the Admiral wants us back ASAP. He needs to get the cleaning team out, and we need to relieve them from the recovery site. The Terra is just waiting on our OK to teleport us back."

"Well then, let's get going."

"Alright, every one good?"

"Ready."

"Go."

"I'm good."

"Same here."

"I am prepared."

"Ok, teleporting in three, two, and one."

They all stood around not moving for a second, and then in a bright gray flash, the six of them disappeared.

-Page-

January 19th, Uminari City, Earth, 17:08 UDT

"We have a powerful hypnosis specialist for times like this, she is very good at her job; they won't remember anything. It won't be perfectly clean, people will know that something happened, and will know someone hid the truth, but it's the best we can do for now. We have civilian contractors who can hide the information and smooth things over later, this is just a short term solution."

"Oh, Ok."

"Actually, Admiral, how do you want to go about searching for the Mechanized infantry?"

"My people are scanning the water around the crash site, but as I said, we lack the manpower to perform an effective search on land. If the targets crashed into populated areas, we would have heard something by now. Therefore, we should assume that they are in wilderness areas, and as such, we will need to comb through them."

"So then, lets break into groups and search. Fate-Chan, you just got back from a mission, so for now you should rest, Hayate-Chan, you will also need to be on standby. I'll leave the Wolkenritter's deployment to you, you're more knowledgeable in their personal skills. Nanoha-Chan, you will need to be on your own for now, is that OK?"

"If I may Admiral?"

"Go ahead Admiral Markly."

"I may not look it, but I was actually an accomplished mage in my youth. Since we don't want to send this young lady out by herself, perhaps I should accompany her? If nothing else, I do have several effective search magics at my disposal."

"Well we would be happy to have you along Admiral. Then Hayate-Chan, do you think you should keep some of your knights back so we can cycle them out? Or will they be fine staying active all night?"

"Um, how much land do we need to cover?"

Instead of answering immediately, Admiral Markly created a holographic display back across the table. The display changed to show a map of the Japanese coastline, lines crisscrossed showing roads, the towns and cities were sectioned off, the map even showed elevations. In the center was a large white glowing circle with a blip in the center. The blip was in the middle of the ocean, but the circle crossed over into land and overlapped several cities, including Uminari City,

"We estimate that the prototypes may have made it as far as this line here. We are going to check coastal areas first. My people already did a quick scan on the beaches, since they would have been discovered quickly there, however, the rocky sections or cliff sides could hide a damaged prototype and would need to be searched more thoroughly. There are also these two forested areas, here and here, that need to be searched. And then all of the flat open area between these cities needs to be looked over. And finally, there is a possibility that they landed in some of the more deserted areas inside of the cities; we don't know how large the Sealed Space Barrier was, or for that matter, why it was cast, but it could have been large enough to allow them to land unnoticed in the city outskirts."

"There is a big break between the two sections of coast, and it's a large bit of land too. Hmm…"

Hayate seemed as if she was lost in thought, but to those who knew her, she was clearly conversing with her knights.

"Shamal will search this rural area here. She is better with search magic than the rest and will have an easier time searching through the woods and small town than the others. Zafira and Vita-Chan are the fastest and can cover the most ground, so I'll have each one covering half of the open space in the middle. And then Signum will take to northern coast line and then, depending on how that goes, will take the southern one."

"Hmm, that's satisfactory then. Me and Miss Takamachi will search through this city first, and then move onto the next. Although I am surprised, I expected you to keep your knights together, but instead you have them spread out over the entire area."

"My children and I are always connected, if something were to happen they would be able to act faster than anyone else. If I spread them out, then at least one of them will be able to quickly get there if something goes wrong."

"Good, good, you're quite good at this. It's a shame that you are planning to go into the ground forces. I would think that the Air Force would be a better fit, even the Navy would be better ."

Hayate paused before answering, her eyes sweeping across the table and linger on Fate and Nanoha before refocusing on the admiral.

"Thank you Admiral, but I think you think too highly of me. The Army suits my purposes better."

Fate thought back to that day when they had first began to chart out a course for themselves.

Hayate's trial was almost over; they had been waiting on the verdict, but there was no suspense, they already knew how it would play out. Just like when it had been her trial, Hayate would be acquitted of all charges, and the circumstances around her and her knights would be sealed tight.

When Fate had been there, she had been too confused at the time to really pay attention. Her future was in jeopardy, she had been confused about Nanoha, and the truth about her mother and her origins was still too fresh. But afterward, looking back on it, the "Trial" wasn't a civil trial, but a military one. Once it was apparent that she was not the instigator of the Jewel Seed Incident, and that she had been manipulated by her mother, who herself was a criminal, it was no longer a matter of right or wrong. Instead the biggest issue had become how much of an asset Fate could become. Would she be valuable enough to pardon her crimes?

And after several tests, the answer came out to be a resounding, Yes. One on one combat drills, mock battles, numerous physical and magical tests all came out showing that she was clearly an Ace class mage, and she was ranked as AAA+ right away. With a promise to work with the TSAB in the future, her trial ended and she was temporarily placed on probation, while at the same time Nanoha went through the same tests and scored an equal rank.

Things then became hectic with the Book of Darkness's revival, at some point when she wasn't paying attention her probation had been lifted, she had become a civilian contractor with the TSAB, and she had been re-evaluated as an S-.

And that lead to waiting with Nanoha and Hayate in a detention center's conference room, waiting for an obvious verdict.

The law considered the Wolkenritter to be of the same status as a familiar, a law that needed to be changed, but for the time being that was how it went. As such, their actions were not their own, but where the responsibility of their master's. Their past crimes, of which there were many, would not be held against them, however, the current crimes would. Not that it would matter, they had gone out of their way to prevent any fatalities, and there was the issue of Admiral Gil Graham's interference. Plus, the Wolkenritter's power was well documented, being able to bring the Book of Darkness, its master, and its defense programs under the TSAB's wing was just too much of an opportunity to allow to pass by.

Not at all concerned with the outcome, they had all intended to wait patiently. Instead, a bunch of high ranking officials had come to either recruit Hayate, or at least have a final few words with the Master of the Book of Darkness. That was an occurrence that happened all throughout the proceedings, many of the TSAB's leadership had personally fought against a previous version of the Book, and many had lost friends or family, it would be impossible for them to let that go. But the three Ace's stood firm, Hayate would apologize, and a few would accept that, but most would not, and would instead make threats and then leave.

And on that last day, it had only intensified, win or lose, not that there was a question of the outcome, but win or lose, all of the circumstances surrounding Hayate would become classified, this would be their last chance. But with the verdict already a foregone conclusion, the angry and vengeful were outnumbered by the well wishers and those who had interests to serve. And once it was discovered that not only was Hayate not already signed up in a particular branch, but that Fate and Nanoha were too, the recruitment expanded to include them.

Mercifully, during the final deliberation, they were sectioned off, and that was when they first laid down the plan. It had since changed, and the beginning one was at best a rough sketch, but many things first thought of on that day remained.

They had been unsure at the time, only having vague ideas. Nanoha's lack of formal training created a drive to experiment, to try new things, to test theory and technique, to refine the pr-established, to challenge it too, and to spread what she had learned. Fate had been taught a specific skill set by her mother to better search out the Jewel Seeds; her investigative skills and personal combat were highly appraised. And Hayate had her own unique skill set, she excelled at command and control, logistics and communications.

For Fate, the Navy's enforce program had been an obvious first choice, it fit her perfectly. But Nanoha and Hayate, both being new to Magic, had had a harder time. Hayate had nothing to work off of, she could have effectively worked in any branch. It was eventually Nanoha who decided on the Air Force, her love of flying being the main reason.

It was then that Hayate decided to join the Ground Forces. They had all decided to avoid each other's fields, so as to not directly compete. With Fate in the Navy, and Nanoha joining the Air force, the Ground Forces were all that was left.

Over time they had refined their plan, adding more and more details until they had a finished product.

One of their defining moments that day, was when the realized that they couldn't trust the TSAB. The Time-Space Administration Bureau was certainly a great force of good; under the TSAB's protection the Mid-Childan government and civilization had flourished, the period of war following the collapse of Ancient Belkan had basically stopped once the TSAB stepped onto the inter-dimensional stage. The Belkan Hegemony, the sole remaining members of Ancient Belka, had been defeated and pushed back to their borders, the constant border skirmishes between that Allied States and Irlian Empire had also ceased. A period of universal piece had taken the Dimensional Seas, and while the TSAB wasn't the sole cause of it, they did play a large part.

And while the Seas were far from perfect, the TSAB tried it's hardest to bring peace and stability to its protected territories, and the results showed. All in all, the TSAB had made the various dimensions a better place in uncountable ways.

But, for all the good it did, the TSAB operated under a policy that allowed just about anything as long as it was for the greater good. Gil Graham had been a good example, the construction of Durandal had taken over two years, the device was specifically made to combat the Book of Darkness, and its specifications had to be exact. In the two years it had been under construction, Admiral Graham had funneled money from other endeavors to fund its development; and no one noticed or cared. Then, hundreds of different people, technicians, engineers, researchers, test personnel; all of them had had a hand in its construction. While most didn't know exactly what the device was for, or how he intended to use it, many of them had to have some idea of its purpose, and yet, they all remained silent.

Because, for those that knew and understood, the ultimate outcome, the long term sealing of the Book of Darkness, was worth breaking those laws. The damage that the Book caused, and the fact that there was no reliable way to permanently destroy it, had allowed the TSAB to considered alternative ideas, and the laws wouldn't stop them.

To the TSAB, the ends justified the means, and all three of them, perhaps with a little reluctance on Nanoha's part, had come to agree with that. The idea that there was a perfect solution to every problem; one in which no one is harmed and everyone gets what they want is the stuff of fairy-tails; Reality demands sacrifice. As long as a greater good is served, as long as the big picture is kept in sight, then conflicts of right and wrong are acceptable, at least in the short term. If the TSAB had never compromised it's laws and principals, then it would have quickly ceased to exist, and no one would have been served by that.

The three of them understood that, understood all too well how cruel reality could be; each in their own way had come to see it for what it was.

But just because the TSAB did work for the greater good; and they all wanted to use their strength to help, didn't mean that they could trust the TSAB. They knew that if the greater good could be served with their sacrifice, then the TSAB would not hesitate to do so.

And that was how they came to their current plan. They would play the TSAB's game, they would make contacts, develop their skills, gain experiences; they would make themselves invaluable to the TSAB. And then, once they had an opportunity, they would create their own unit within the TSAB. Then they wouldn't have to worry about becoming vulnerable within the system; because they would pull themselves out of the system.

To do that, they would each need to work separately and build their own positions within the TSAB; and that was why Hayate, despite being better with smaller elite units, is instead going to enter the Ground Forces.

"A real shame. Well, if you're positive, then, there is nothing I can do about that. Now, Since I can see nothing wrong with the search plan that was proposed, we will follow that for now. We will be using Miss Testarossa's home as a starting point and base of operations. I hope you are alright with that? I will be bringing in whoever I can spare to run communications and such."

"That's fine Admiral."

"Good, then if no one has any questions?"

The Admiral looked around once, and then started towards the door.

"Umm... Actually, I have a question. What do the prototypes look like?"

The Admiral stopped in his tracks, again surprised that someone had spoken

"I am loosing it in my old age. Verzi-Tech wasn't that forthcoming with information, so spec wise, we don't know what the prototypes are actually capable of, but we do have pictures and some very incomplete schematics. Lets see here..."

The Admiral turned back to the forgotten holographic map that was still floating above the kitchen table. A few hand motions later, the map had faded away into nothingness, and in it's place floated four different humanoid looking constructs.

The one closest to Fate was labeled as Lima V4, Supply and Support Unit. Fate remembered the mechanized infantry that had guarded the Garden of Time, they were big and bulky, even comically so, and they were modeled after Balkan Era heavy knights. While they did in fact look sort of silly, they were also imposing, they gave off an impression of durability and power.

Lima here, was at the opposite end of the spectrum, still imposing, but more lean and quick looking. Her mother's guardians were big and brutal, like a hammer, this one was slick and sharp, like a blade. Lima had only one weapon that Fate could see; built into his left shoulder was a large cannon, from the turret it extended out almost a foot and a half before tapering off into a sealed barrel of some form.

Other than the single cannon, Lima was at first unimpressive. But Fate's keen eye spotted things that not even Hayate or Nanoha had. At first glance Lima looked as if it was made out of standard Neo-steel, but that wasn't the case. The metallic surface was too shiny and polished, even in a hologram, to be Neo-steel; instead, Fate suspected it was the same material that the TSAB used as armor on its ships.

Lima was modeled after a human, just a slightly taller and larger one, but he had hands and a face, the joints and limbs were all the same. The only difference was a large pack built into his back. Since he was a support unit, Fate suspected that it contained extra parts or the like.

However, the similarities to a human ended at Lima, his brothers all kept the basic shape, but they were significantly different. The next one over was labeled as, Echo V1, Long Range Artillery Unit. Echo was massive, almost a two feet larger than Lima, and much thicker, his legs were larger than Fate's entire body. Echo's chest was dominated by a single large cannon that protruded out; both arms had smaller cannons strapped on, three to each arm, his shoulders had some form of hatches that likely contained missiles or rockets; the same hatches were also built into what would have been he knee's. His back housed three cannons like the one in his chest, but slightly thinner and longer. And as an afterthought, where his mouth would have been, was a rotating bolt cannon.

Next to Echo was Tango, his full name being, Tango V5 Light Scout Unit. Tango was small, even smaller than Fate herself. Unlike the others, Tango had four arms, and each one was doubled jointed. Besides the arms, Fate couldn't spot any abnormalities on Tango, he didn't even seem to have weapons.

And then finally there was Zulu All Purpose Unit, V9. Zulu looked a lot like Lima, except that he lacked the large back piece, instead there was a smaller pack that contained what Fate assumed were thrusters. The same thrusters were built into the backs of his legs. And unlike the others, the Zulu in the image was carrying a weapon, some kind of staff; his brothers all had them built in, only Zulu's was detachable.

"Well that's the four that the invoice mentioned. As you can see, all of the specs besides their model and version numbers are blacked out, Verzi-Tech didn't give us anything else. They said it was too sensitive to discuss via a transmission. They did assure me that there are no toxic or radioactive components, so no dangerous clean up."

Around the table, everyone was intently looking at the images, even her mother seemed to be focusing solely on Tango. Admiral Markly gave everyone a minute to finish looking through them, and there really wasn't a lot of information, besides the visuals, there was zero data available.

"If that is all..."

Since Hayate was the one to bring it up, the Admiral directed his question towards her, but it was also a broad attempt to get everyone moving.

"This one, the Lima Unit."

Hayate had given each of the units a quick glance over, and then had focused on Lima, much like Fate had at first.

"Yes?"

"Signum and Shamal said that they have found it."

That caught the Admiral off guard, and for that matter, everyone else too.

"Really, where are they?"

"They went for a walk downtown when you came in."

"So it made it to the downtown area then? That's bigger than what we thought the Sealed Space Barrier was capable off. Where exactly is it? I'll send a recover team out for the wreckage."

Hayate spent a moment silently conversing with her knights, during which her expressive steadily became more concerned.

"Um, it's not wreckage. It's intact, fully. And operational."

"What? Where?"

"Signum says it's walking along the street in the middle of downtown. She says a lot of people are following it and using their phones to take pictures."

The Admiral quickly got over his surprise, but for a quick moment his face flashed with a dark emotion that Fate didn't quite catch.

"This is bad. Tell your knights to lock down the area. My people will track down the cellphones and corrupt the data. But we need to take care of it now."

-Page-

January 19th, Uminari City, Downtown, Earth, 17:15 UDT

When the party had ended with the arrival of Admiral Markly, and it had become apparent that the house was too crowded to hold all of them, Vita had been the first to find an excuses to leave. She had claimed that she wanted to check on the old mens home that she played Croquet with, but Signum had suspected it had less to do with a lack of room, and more to do with the visiting Admiral.

Decades, even centuries of fighting, had given her amazing insight into the psyche of others. Even while she herself had become less human, her ability to read others had increased. And all of her finely tuned senses, made of from all of those years; had immediately reacted to the Admiral.

She had sensed deceit, but as to what it actually was, she drew a blank. Something about him was wrong, dangerously so, but he wasn't an active and immediate threat. Vita, Zafira, and Shamal had all felt the same, and when her Mistress had asked them to leave and make room, Signum as the leader of the Wolkenritter had voiced her concerns, possibly overstepping her boundaries to do so.

But her Mistress wasn't upset by Signum's breach of conduct, in fact the opposite was true, she had thanked her for her concern.

The three years they had spent together had given Signum a lifetime's worth of happy memories, but despite that, it couldn't erase the old memories, couldn't alter the reality of what she was.

Duty to their mistress still ruled the Wolkenritter, despite everything else, and despite what their mistress may want, they were still servants to the master the Tome of the Night Sky. Signum had been, and still was, duty bound to protect her Mistress; and that duty overrode all other desires.

It was a small miracle, that for the first time, in all the many years she had existed, that her duty as leader of the Wolkenritter coincided with her own personal wishes.

So she had warned her Mistress to not trust the Admiral, had voiced her own personal concerns without being prompted, and instead of a reprimand, had instead been thanked, and assured that her Mistress had already been wary of the Admiral.

Her Mistress had assured her that she would be safe, a fact that Signum wasn't exactly happy about, but that she had to grudgingly agree with. If there was anyone who was strong enough, and as dedicated to her Mistress as she herself was, then it would be Testarossa and Takamachi.

The two of them had fought the Wolkenritter to a standstill three years ago, and while she and the other knights had been holding back in an effort to not kill, the strength of those young girls had left an impression. Not only that, but they had shown their worth has friends, and they had earned the trust of the Wolkenritter, which was no small feat itself.

Yes, her Mistress would be safe with them around, and while she and the other knights were not there, they were close enough. Her Mistress was secure, but still, Signum did not like leaving her alone, a feeling that seemed to transcend mere duty.

But her Mistress had ordered them out, and Duty forced her to obey, so Signum grudgingly paired up with Shamal for a small walk around the downtown area.

Signum didn't particularly like the city, she preferred quiet places of solitude over the hustle and bustle of cities. And being surrounded by so many people like this, along with the knowledge of non-magic weapons, set her warrior instincts on edge.

But Shamal, she loved being in the thick of things, surrounded by people all going about their lives. The sights and sounds, the flashing lights, the cars, the stores, all of it was a delight to Shamal, and if the Knight of the Lake took pleasure from it, then Signum, the Sword Knight could endure it, if for no other reason then to allow her comrade this small joy.

And as fate would have it, while they were looping around another block, and while Shamal was busy spending the rest of her weekly allowance, they had stumbled upon what Shamal had initially thought was something called a "Cosplayer."

Shamal had tried to explain the concept, but the idea of dressing up as fictional characters, animated ones, ones without real people to base it off of, was just incomprehensible. Shamal enjoyed it though, so Signum had made a small effort to learn about it, and she had picked up somethings, not much, but some, and the idea of seeing an actual cosplayer, was if nothing else, somewhat intriguing.

They had made their way though the crowd of people, Signum's height and build, along with her intimidating presence easily caused the assembled crowd to part. There stood the cosplayer, surrounded by the group of people, all using their cellphones to snap pictures, except it wasn't a cosplayer at all. Signum and Shamal sensed no life from the metallic creature that was idly walking down the sidewalk surrounded by onlookers. Oh, but they did sense magic, lots and lots of magic.

A quick series of telepathic communications with their Mistress had allowed them to learn that what stood in front of them was in fact, not a cosplayer, and was instead something called, "Lima V4, Supply and Support Unit."

Along with it's name, their Mistress had also asked, not ordered, but asked, them to "Bring it into custody, and to prevent anyone from seeing you." Three years ago, the concept of "Bringing something into Custody," would have been an unknown concept for the Wolkenritter, but recent events had given them a fair amount of practice in that category.

So without any need to communicate between themselves, Signum the Sword knight, and Shamal the Knight of the Lake, effortlessly coordinated their approach. On second the sky was lit just by the remains of the sun and the thousands of city lights, while the roads themselves were filled with thousands of people and hundred of cars. And the next, the sky glowed a dull gray, the unmistakable sight of a sealed space barrier, and the roads were completely devoid of life.

Where once a crowd of people had gathered to watch Lima V4, now only stood Signum, her Knight's armor surrounding her body and Laevatein in her hand. Besides her Shamal, equally outfitted, stepped back and then launched herself into the air.

Lima stopped its idle walk and turned it's head to face her. It's emotionless and inhuman face seemed to observe her silently. Signum returned it glare with one of her own, but the machine payed her no heed, it was physically incapable of fear, or any other emotion for that matter.

With Laevatein raised, pointing strait towards the machine, Signum momentary debated how to handle this. She wasn't certain whether or not the machine in front of her had any cognitive functions, or was it just a mindless automaton. With not data to help her decided, and having learning nothing from her staring match, Signum decided to go with the standard approach, one that she had gotten a lot of practice with in the last couple of years.

"I am Contracted Mage Senior Grade, Signum Yagami, TSAB Special Investigations Assistance Department. You are in violation of article 7, Sub-section 55 of the TSAB's Inter-dimensional law pertaining to magic based artifacts on Non-administered planets. You will stand down and be taken into custody."

Never once, in the three years she had worked for the TSAB, had anyone ever responded favorably to that line, or any variation of it. At best there would be attempts at pleading for mercy, which Signum considered unfitting of a warrior. But usually, they would attempt to flee, or to fight. It would have been so much easier to just attack without giving the opponent an opportunity to strike first.

But being on the side of the law required certain sacrifices, one of which was to give criminals the chance to surrender peacefully. And when they didn't, well, what happened after that was all shades of gray. The TSAB frowned upon any fatalities during missions, but they weren't expressively forbidden, and in many cases, it was called for. Signum, and the rest of the Wolkenritter, had yet to kill some one in the course of a mission, a fact that their Mistress was very proud of.

But destroying a machine, was not the same as killing a human, and although the Admiral would probably want this "Lima" machine intact, in this case that just meant that he wanted it as something other than ruble, if maybe, it's limbs were all severed, that should be fine.

So when the machine inevitably turned down her request, and some form of combat broke out, she actually was looking forward to it. Hopefully it would be strong enough to at least entertain her, after all, opportunities where she didn't need to hold back were rare.

Signum, the Knight of the Sword showed the tinniest hint of a smile as the machine finally responded, turning it's body to fully face her. The cannon built into its shoulder remained inactive for the moment, but the machine released some form of scan, magical power bursting forth from its' metallic body and washing over her. If nothing else, it at least had some raw power.

Her smile grew just a small fraction.


	7. Chapter 7

Well, here we have chapter 7. its smaller, like I promised, and its also split into three easily broken down parts, for the readers convenience.

I am still looking for a beta reader if anyone would be interested. If you need some incentive, I actually have up to chapter 10 already done, so you could get early access to them. Also, I have a chapter from way later, think of it as chapter 50 or so, that could also be viewed.

Chapter 7

September 23rd, 2045, Freedom Maker, New ASN Flagship. 21:44 UDT

The throbbing was mercifully receding, allowing Craig Wilds a small respite from the headache that had plagued him for the last several hours. With the meeting finally concluding, and without an audience or a need to keep up appearances, Craig had immediately retreated back to his offices and order up some very effective painkillers.

That was about five minutes ago, and while the medicine had run its course, Craig had leaned back in his chair, the lights dim, and just, blanked out. There was a lot to do, a lot to think about, but he needed the break. It had been at least twenty four hours since he had slept last, he hadn't eaten well, and then there was the stress. Oh, was there a lot of stress.

And then there was that meeting from hell that had just let out. That had gone on for a good fourteen, maybe fifteen hours, and that was just a long drawn out, painful death.

There was also that video clip that had shown up at the tail end of things, that had sent his mind wandering off in direction that were best left unexplored. Unfortunately, he found that once it had been there once, his mind kept going back to it, and that was creating a slew of personal problems for him.

But the highlight of it all, was the TSAB Admiral, or more accurately, her surrender proposal, and the information she had brought. Not that the Admiral herself wasn't interesting or noteworthy, she definitely was, it was just that the other aspects were just much more interesting and noteworthy. The knowledgeable that the TSAB wasn't conquering the Allied States, but was in fact just obliterating it tends to overshadow things.

So yeah, there was a lot of stress that he was dealing with. And although he could be using his time to analyze the Admiral, or to go over his report on the Combat Cyborg/ Mage pilots, or to browse through the various reports that littered his desk, there were several data pads left around, his terminal showed he had several new messages, and there was an oddly out of place stack of papers in the corner, yes there was a lot of work to be done. He also had personal issues to deal with, but that was a can of worms that he just couldn't bring himself to deal with at the moment.

Instead, he sat there in his comfy chair, eyes closed, and did the closest thing to sleeping he had done all day.

And it was great. Time just melted past him. He had no idea how long had passed, minutes? Seconds? Hours? He couldn't tell, and that only made it better. It was a weight lifted off his shoulders; to just sit and relax like this. He was happy, content, and wanted nothing more than to let it continue for days.

Then his terminal chimed, the signal that he had an incoming transmission.

He ignored it.

It chimed again.

He continued to ignore it.

It continued to chime.

Unfortunately, he knew he wouldn't win this, it would keep going with all of the efficiency of a machine, and his ability to continue ignoring it was steadily dropping. So with a deep sigh, and a few choice curses, Craig leaned forward and connected the transmission.

"Deputy Secretary Wilds, I hope I am not bothering you?"

"Not at all Madame Vice-President, what can I do for you?"

Craig had intended to chew out however had bothered him, but when the transmission connected and the face of the Vice-President, Brenda Howl appeared on his screen, he quickly dropped the plan and replaced his angry and annoyed face with his usual suave and unconcerned one.

"I would like to ask your opinion on something."

"Would that something have to do with a certain Admiral perhaps? I believe her name was... what was it again? It was quite long."

"Admiral Lynnesis Sanjuyon Gallardo."

"That's it. So I assume you wanted my opinion on something pertaining to her?"

"I do."

"Well I would be more than happy to help, although I am surprised that you're asking."

For a moment the Vice-President's face scrunched up in thought, but then it went right back to normal.

"What's your take on the Admiral? Do you think she is telling the truth?"

Craig paused and mulled over his thoughts. He really hadn't spent much time on this before now, his moments of relaxation coming back to bite him.

"I think... I think that she meant what she said. I got the feeling that she wasn't taking use seriously, that she thought we were bellow her. And I don't think she would have made a bluff in regards to... That... in the way that she did."

"So then... you are of the opinion that they have been... destroying... the worlds that they control then?"

"It fits. Logically, the TSAB couldn't have been conquering planets that fast, and I find it hard to believe that they had enough ground forces to fight, what, one hundred? two hundred? maybe more? planetary invasions at once? Ground battles go much slower than space battles, in space the ships don't hide. But on the ground you can spend weeks searching for hidden enemies or laying siege to defensive positions. From a purely numerical standpoint, the TSAB would have had to conscript their entire population, and it still might not have been enough to keep that many battlefronts open at once. We had been running under the assumption that they had made some breakthrough for the ground forces, just as they had with their naval forces, but it seems that that wasn't the case."

"So...it all fits together then?"

"Yes, and she had no reason to be lying either. Unless they had exhausted themselves and were trying to bluff us, but I find that hard to believe. Plus, if they were trying to bluff into a better situation, they would have offered reasonable terms, and that was not anything close to reasonable."

"That is what the military concluded too."

"I figured as much. I may not be an actual soldier, but I can use knowledge to compensate. Plus, hang around the military types long enough, and they start to rub off on you."

"Hmm..."

The vice-President mumbled out a reply and then sat back in thought. The silence stretched on and Craig was unsure whether or not he should say something. But before he could decided, the vice-President sat forward, bringing her face closer to the screen.

"You said the terms were unreasonable. You think we should reject them?"

"I don't think we have a choice, but yes, that was my knee jerk reaction."

"Knee Jerk? No Choice?"

"Well... we can't accept those terms regardless. The public would never have it, and for those who wouldn't get picked, there is nothing to stop them from continuing to fight anyway. She only offered the terms so that she could get the battle station intact, and even if we tried to give it to her, it would almost certainly never happen. No, I don't think we can accept."

"But, if we could...?"

"Then I think we should."

"Why?"

"Eh, well honestly, everyone knows we can't win at this point. It's only a matter of time. And if the TSAB is killing everyone, then this is the only option to save at least some of the population."

The vice-President fixed him with a stare and silenced once again filled the space between them. And this time, Craig decided to keep the initiative, he'd already picked his stance and laid it out, if she had problems with it he would be unable to back track at this point.

"Also, the meeting there didn't exactly end in the best way possible, but he could try to negotiate different terms with them. If nothing else, we should try to negotiate, we can always switch tracks later. And, if the negotiations seem to be working, we can also stall for time."

"The Senators want to reject the terms and refuse any contacts."

"I expected that from them."

"And the military also wants to reject them."

"Also, not unexpected."

"The Deputy Prime Minister wants to stall for time, but ultimately reject them."

"That makes sense."

"The Secretary of State wants to surrender."

"Does she? That is unexpected."

"As do Deputy Secretary of Security Hamash and Deputy Secretary of Intelligence Hemming. They both think surrender is a better option."

"And what do you think?"

"I haven't decided yet. Surrendering in general turns my stomach, and to surrender to those terms..."

"But?"

"But... wouldn't it be better to save some versus letting every one die? Or should we gamble on the chance that we can at least hold out?"

"That, realistically isn't going to happen, but I understand the sentiment. Bet it all on a point zero, zero, zero, one, chance of victory, or fold and accept a ninety nine point nine, nine, nine, nine loss. That's barely a better option."

"True... very true. We also have another problem we need to deal with, we need to decided on one option and stick to it. And we all have to agree."

"That is the hard part about politics, getting everyone on board. Luckily, that isn't my job."

"Technically, it's not really my job either, remember, Vice-President? Not actual President. This should have been the President's place. She was better at this than I am, she always was able to turn opinion the way she wanted. Always made good decisions too, she always knew what was best."

"Not that I don't respect the former president, but perhaps refusing to leave Alliance Prime wasn't really the best decision?"

"Well, it was as good as any other way to go, plus, she doesn't have to deal with this now does she?"

"Hah, good point, maybe it was the best decision if you put it that way."

"Maybe it was... well Deputy Secretary Wilds, I thank you for your time. You helped me sort out my thoughts. Somewhat at least."

"Glad to have been useful, I hope you decide on something soon."

"Yes, so do I. I have a small meeting with the Secretary of State over lunch...dinner...i have no idea what time it is. But a small meeting none the less. I'll hear her out, and then listen to the Deputy Prime Minister, and maybe have a talk with Curtis and Kamal, then I will see where I stand. Well then, I will let you get back to whatever it was you were doing."

"Relaxing."

"Hah, well enjoy."

And with that, the connected was cut and the transmission ended. His terminal faded to the flag of the Allied States before going black completely as he put it into standby mode. Craig leaned back into his chair and considered his options.

He should have checked the messages on his terminal, they were probably the easiest issues to work through, but they were also just mindless busy work, and he just couldn't bring himself to deal with that at the moment, plus, he had already put that into standby. He also had those reports to look through; a quick glance at his desk revealed that there were four of them, plus that stack of papers. The papers would be last, just as a matter of principal, which left the data pads.

With a groan he reached out and picked up the nearest, flipped it on, and read the title out loud to himself.

"Reassessment of the Ern system ambush. By Rear Admiral Condel."

The data pad made a clattering sound as he dropped it back onto the desk. That one was unnecessary to read, even if there was something in it, it didn't matter to him, probably, also, he just didn't want to read something from the old man right now.

Next was a the results from the research station's scry on the TSAB fleet, which also meant nothing to him. Underneath that one was a copy of the video showing the attack on the asteroid belt. That one went back down. And then finally, there was an update to the report on the pilots. This one was unfortunately important enough to warrant his attention.

Craig idly flipped through it, spending time at the table of contents and getting a feel for it's size. It was mostly just small updates and a few things that were left out, nothing seemed important, but still, he needed to go over it, and it was only twenty pages long, so it shouldn't be that difficult.

-Break_

Five minutes later, Craig had revised his opinion.

The text itself wasn't that hard, but for some reason he just couldn't focus. He must have just read the same line ten times, and he still didn't know what it said.

He was clearly too tired for this right now, but he really needed to deal with it, if not now, then soon. And based on how he was feeling, if he went to sleep now he wouldn't wake up for at least twelve hours, which was far to long.

Instead, he compromised with himself, he would go back to the whole, "mind blanked out while relaxing," thing he had been doing before being interrupted. That had made him feel better, so there must have been some value in it. So he temporarily abandoned the data pad, kept the lights low, and leaned back into his chair, propped his legs up on his desk, and relaxed.

-Page-

September 23rd, 2045, Freedom Maker, New ASN Flagship. 23:56 UDT

Turned out that had been a bad idea.

Craig awoke with a jolt, springing forward in a panic and almost falling backwards out of his chair. He was still tired, maybe not exhausted, but still tired and groggy, and now he was also irritable. He could tell, because after almost falling out of his chair his first reaction was to attempt to hit it, so he threw some backwards elbows into the back cushion, knocking the chair back and forth until he messed up and slammed his elbow into the arm rest; the hard plastic arm rest.

As he leaned forward, propping himself up on his desk and cradling his now bruised arm, he came face to face with what had woken him in the first place. And also a clock, which informed him that he had drifted off for almost two hours. But he immediate concern was the same annoying chiming coming from his terminal, the same one that had ruined his last little bout of relaxation when the vice-president had wanted to talk. Without any thought to his current appearance, Craig angrily hit the connect button.

"Deputy Wilds, we have a... are you alright?"

The image of Craig's face, scrunched up in pain, and much to close to the screen had given the Deputy Secretary of Intelligence cause for concern, which coming from the emotionless spy/analysist, was probably a good indicator of what Craig was currently looking like.

"I'm fine. Banged my arm getting into the chair."

"Are you sure you OK? You look quite... distressed."

"I said I am Fine."

The Deputy Secretary's expression of concern immediately faded, going back to his usual stoic look, and making Craig realize that he might have been overly curt when he spoke. He took a second to straiten himself, reposition his now very sore arm, and then address the Deputy Secretary again.

"Sorry about that, I was sleeping in my chair when you called, and woke up a bit to fast and hit my arm."

"I thought you hit your arm getting into the chair?"

"It...yeah...no...i was in the chair and... you know what, it doesn't matter. What were you calling about?"

Not one to focus on things like that, the Deputy Secretary immediately dropped the subject and moved on.

"We have a small situation. Secretary of Industry Jeff Dorran passed away about an hour ago. One of his aids found him dead in his offices."

"Oh...oh, was it the TSAB or..."

"No, we are still waiting on a preliminary medical report, but the Secretary had been very sick and he seemed to have worked himself to death. There is no indication of anything else. As I said, we are still waiting on a more detailed report, and we will also be conducting an autopsy."

"OK...so what happens now?"

"For the moment, nothing. As a precautionary method we will be increasing security. Deputy Secretary Hamash is working with Major General Trihzen to double patrols around the ship and to provide each of us with a marine for protection, but his is just a precaution. Once we get the preliminary report we will relay and relevant information, and possibly call a meeting. For now you may continue what you were doing."

"OK...Alright."

"Then that is all. Also, I suggest you get a medical tech to look at your elbow, it is bruising."

"Yeah, I'll do that. Wait!"

"Yes?"

"Do you...Did you know the Secretary?"

"Not personally, no. Our department's don't have a lot in common, and until recently I was only the Deputy Secretary. I know of his reputation however, he was known for being a hard worker and extremely dedicated to his job. He has always been a bit frail of health however, and I know his family was on Alliance Prime when it fell. He himself just happened to be away trying to bring an old factory online at Banspil II when the attack happened. He didn't let it affect his work, but it probably worsened his condition. I have a full dossier on him if you want"

"No, that's OK, thank you for your time."

"As you wish."

The second he had stopped talking he had ended the transmission, the Allied State's flag once again appearing on Craig terminal screen, and this time he just left it there. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, but this time relaxation was farthest from his mind. Not that he was concerned about the Secretary of Industry's death, he had been concerned that he might have been assassinated, but that fear was laid to rest. No, the death of the man didn't concern him, right now at least. What did concern him was the fact that he HAD been concerned for a moment. He had asked Deputy Secretary Hemming about the Secretary because he had been genuinely concerned at that moment. He no longer was, but that weird lapse moments ago was an aberration, and that was cause for concern.

Why had he cared enough to ask? Just like the Deputy Secretary, Craig barely even knew the Secretary of Industry, they weren't friends, they were barely even acquaintances, so why had he cared? Because he was a co-worker? That couldn't be, almost all of his co-workers had been killed in the past weeks, and none of them had made him even bat an eye, well except his boss, but that had more to do with his promotion than anything else. Was it because he had died, where as his other co-workers had been killed? Did that make enough difference?

The riddles and their possible answers danced around in his groggy mind, but he was too tired and irritated to catch them, instead they just floated out slightly out of reach, beckoning from him to try, but then bouncing away.

It was infuriating, and the fact that he had accidentally slept for two hours, wasting valuable time, was only exasperating the problem. He still had the reports go go through, his elbow hurt, nothing, nothing at all was going well.

He had so many problems, so many questions that needed answering, and he had nothing.

He should go and get something for his arm, but the pain was there, feeding into his anger, and that anger was all that was keeping him going at the moment. Instead, he decided to just give into the anger.

With a strained yell he threw his hands across the desk, scattering the data pads and sending the stack of papers flying. He stood up abruptly, kicked his chair back, the wheels allowing it to fly backwards and smash into a end table and go tumbling. He sent his coffee flying into the wall, the cup shattering and the light brown liquid staining the wall.

He gave one final yell, and then collapsed backward into his chair, only he forgot he had just sent that flying and instead fell back onto the floor.

His anger, now released, gave way to relief, and he just sat there, spread out on the floor and laughed. The stress, anger, fear, confusion, all of it from the last few days had just boiled over right then, and now that it was gone, all he had was... nothing. He was empty, gloriously empty. A sense of satisfaction had taken hold and he just kept laughing, light tears running down his face as he just kept on laughing.

September 24th, 2045, Freedom Maker, New ASN Flagship. 01:29 UDT

Craig awoke with a start, he eyes just snapping open. His back was sore from sleeping on the floor, his sides still hurt from his bout of laughing, and his elbow was now a nice brown and blue, but he was refreshed, even happy. Everything he had been keeping inside had just spilled out, leaving him in a much better mood, and unlike his last little nap, this one had ended naturally, instead of being interrupted, which had the nice added bonus of allowing him to actually feel better, instead of just groggy and irritated.

Craig slowly got up, reluctant to leave the soft padding that was the synthetic carpeting of his office, but none the less, he needed to move. Once up he surveyed the collateral from his new state of mind. There were shards of coffee mug scattered about around the door to the hallway and the drink itself had left a nice spot on the wall, one of the two end tables near the sofa in the back was knocked over, his desk chair leaning on it, with one of the arm rests, the one currently responsible for his elbow, broken off. Three of the data pads were laying on the floor in front of of his desk, the fourth had fallen into a potted plant and was now covered in dirt. And there was paper all over the place. He would need to figure out how had sent him a fifty page report in paper form, that person was going to get a good chewing out.

That however, was an issue for later, now, he needed to clean up his office. He could just ask for a maintenance crew, or a cleaning person, but he didn't really want anyone else to see the aftermath from his small breakdown, at least not until he got it somewhat under control.

Deciding that the coffee was probably the most important issue, Craig went into the adjoining bathroom, grabbed a hand towel, wet it with water, and then went back out and tried to soak up as much of the coffee as possible. Unfortunately, it had already dried, and is attempts were really only making the wall wet, and not actually cleaning much. After a few minutes, and very little progress, he gave up on that one. Instead he used the now dirty towel to pick up the shards of mug that were scattered about. He threw the bigger pieces into the trash can and left the small ones in the towel. Once he was confident that he had gotten all he could, the towel also went in the trash. The data pads were next, and after blowing the dirt off the one, were quickly straitened out on his desk, nothing out of place there.

Then he had to deal with the papers, which made him cringe. Being a man who does what every he wants when ever he wanted tends to make one strongly dislike certain things. Craig had a lot of dislikes, hates, and pet peeves, and paper was one of the more prominent ones, he just hated the rough feel of the stuff. To that end, he made every one send him reports in digital formats so that they could be uploaded into data pads or into his terminals. For the few people who wouldn't, or couldn't, Craig's secretarial staff would convert it to the appropriate format before passing it on to him. Since they hadn't, that meant that the conversion was impossible for some reason, most likely because the paper contained a For Your Eyes Only spell, which would prevent anyone besides him from reading it, and that also included machines.

Which meant that right now, Craig had to pick up over fifty loose sheets of paper, and each time his fingers touched one he had to suppress a slight chill that ran up his spine.

And with the worst task now completed, Craig moved on to the last thing, he quickly straitened out the end table, picked his chair up and wheeled it back to his desk. Luckily, sort of, the arm rest hadn't broken off completely, part of the support had snapped off, but the majority of it was still there, and it was probably still usable, which meant he didn't have to go through the hassle of requesting a new chair from the ship's supply.

Now, with the room looking significantly better, Craig finally decided that it would be OK to call a cleaning person, and logged into his terminal to do so.

-Break-

Five minutes later, Craig was once again leaning back in his chair, this time however, instead of relaxing, or passing out, he was again reading through the update report on the cyborg pilots. In the time since he had finished asking for a maintenance team, and the time they had arrived, Craig had already gone through the other three reports, and discovered nothing he needed to know.

And the arrival of the two maintenance people had also slightly distracted him, not because they were unique or anything, in fact they were two completely ordinary men, but just the fact that they existed had slightly surprised Craig, he sometimes forgot that despite being warships, they were still crewed by people, and people make messes. But the idea that a state of the art warship required a janitorial staff was something that would always slip his mind and he would always be surprised to see routine mundane things being done on warships.

In fact, this ship, the Freedom Maker, had a huge janitorial and maintenance staff, about one hundred people, and temporarily, that number was actually almost doubled.

The Freedom Maker, the new flagship of the ASN after the God Hammer had been destroyed, was a Gravel Class Super Dreadnaught. The ASN had only ever fielded two classes of Super Dreadnaught, the old Gravel Class, and the much, much older Bedrock Class. The Bedrock Class had been out of service for almost three hundred years, and the aging Gravel Class was on it's last leg. The ASN had only ever commissioned ten of them, and before the war had started, only five had remained, now that number was down to three. Unfortunately, the upkeep on ships this large was just unfeasible during anything less than all out war, and during the long stretch of mostly uninterrupted peace that had been the last century or two, the Gravel Classes had just become a drain on the Navy's Treasury. Two of the Gravel Classes were destroyed in battle, but the other three were just decommissioned. One was striped of it's weapons and armor and converted into a civilian cruise ship, one was stationed at Alliance Prime as a honor guard of sorts, another became a museum, and the remaining two were converted into Mobile command outposts. Their overall combat potential was reduced and instead they received larger living quarters and more command, sensor, and communications equipment. They were sent out to the farthest reaches of Allied State's territory to act as temporary command outposts, where they would fill that role until a more permanent station could be built.

When the TSAB had attacked, and it became apparent that the ASN would need every available ship in service to even have a chance, the remaining Bedrock Classes were called back into service, to much disappointment. The one that had become a luxury liner had almost zero potential as a war ship. They wouldn't have even been able to just strap random weapons on it because it's power generators had been replaced with less powerful, but cheaper ones. Getting that one combat ready was nearly impossible, instead it was used as parts for the other four.

Fleet Admiral Weurkin, along with Secretary of Industry Doran spearheaded the process to rebuild the ships, and met with initial success. The first ship upgraded was the Land of the Free, the former honor Guard of Alliance Prime, she served in the first major fleet battle of the war, which ended poorly, and she was lost there. The Second and the third were finished almost simultaneously, the Freedom Maker, which was one of the two mobile outposts was rebuilt, she kept her enhanced sensory and command capacity, and was built as a slow moving long range command ship, and after the Battle at Teleron, she was officially predesignated as the Fleet's Flagship.

At the same time as the Freedom Maker was being rebuilt into the Flagship, the museum ship, the Life for Freedom, was rebuilt as a short range heavy attack ship. Because the museum ship kept all of its old equipment, she had to be upgraded the most, but with the spare parts from the luxury liner, they were able to make it all work out.

And Unfortunately for the final outpost ship, the Fight For Freedom, the only shipyards that remained able to work on Super Dreadnaught class ships, was attacked by the TSAB, and the ship was lost while still being upgraded.

Now the Freedom Maker, along with its new escort ship, the Life for Freedom, and their escort fleet, were heading towards Vol IV to join up with the fleet there. It was the biggest build up of naval forces that the ASN had every seen, over five thousand ships, of which about three thousand were actual war ships, and about one thousand were battle-cruisers or larger. The rest were civilian ships, seized and commandeered for the war effort, what ever weapon systems were on hand were haphazardly strapped on and the ships were pressed into service. Sure, it wasn't the most impressive looking fleet ever assembled, nor was it as powerful as a truly dedicated war fleet, but it was still the largest armada ever assembled within the ASN.

And, the Fleet was only half the picture, the other half was the Battle Station. Built around a Massive Linear Cannon that could crack planets in half, the Battle Station was one of the most impressive, and heavily fortified structures in existence, second only to the TSAB's own Naval Headquarters. While the Linear Cannon would have little worth in a fleet battle, despite their best efforts at the contrary, the Station that housed the mighty cannon was still almost the size of a moon, and was bristling with hundred, even thousands of super heavy weapons, tens of thousands of point defense and lesser weapons. The Armor was thirty meters thick at the strongest points, and went down to around twenty at the weak points, it had enough shield generator arrays to cover its entire surface, and it's multiple barrier generators were capable of making walls that can, and did in the past, protect it from asteroid strikes. And since the Cannon itself wouldn't be used, the parts that made up the cannon, or it's ventilation system, didn't need to be maintained, instead, they were covered with automated missile platforms.

There was also the Station's collection of sub stations, all the size of small outpost stations that had their own entourage of defensive satellites. There were twenty in all, all placed equal distance from each other in a spherical formation around the station to protect it from quick attacks or suicide runs from enemy ships.

Yes, it was impressive, and if you compared pure combat potential in an level playing field, it came out ahead of the TSAB's Naval Headquarters, in fact, the TSAB's main advantage was the small dimensional that their Headquarters occupied, which limited where an enemy could attack from and greatly reducing maneuverability. Without that advantage, the Battle Station was actually stronger.

Yet Craig was convinced it wouldn't matter. He had complete faith in the TSAB admiral's words when she had said that she was confident that she could beat them, but not without damaging the station. Implying that she still thought they COULD do it, but the odds were low enough to try alternatives, and it also implied that if those alternatives fail, they might still try to capture it instead of outright destroying it.

If the Station were to fall, and if the fleet were to be destroyed, that would be the end of the ASN. They were putting absolutely everything they had into this final last stand. If it went poorly, there would just be no naval assets left to even attempt token resistance, or to even attempt to evacuate the remaining planets. Although, if the Station were to be attacked, that would mean that the TSAB had already reached the border of the Allied States, so at that point they would already be on top of the remaining planets and systems, and evacuation would be impossible.

And now that Craig thought about it, the military must be wracking their heads with another issue; the plan to use Vol IV as a last stand point was a two part plan. The second part, was a huge build up of Marine forces on Solesta I. Solesta I was one of two livable and inhabited planets in the Solesta System. The entire system was ravaged by the Belkan Hegemony before the war had ended; Solesta I and Solesta III were the only two planets that emerged usable. Solesta III was doted with hundreds of small islands, that were, and still are, useless. The slightly acidic waters, caustic atmosphere, and extreme cold made any form of plant life beyond basic molds too scarce to support any animal life. The islands had almost always been uninhabited, however, the oceans were calm, and shallow, so huge underwater cities were developed under the water's surface. And life actually flourished there. Unfortunately, the dome cities were fragile, and couldn't stand up against and kind of dedicated attack, which often resulted in the dome being breached and the entire city being flooded. The war lead to almost every single person being forced to flee, or being killed. Since then, the cities had been rebuilt and new inhabitants had moved in. They had hoped that the TSAB would ignore the dome cites, since they were impossible to defend and since they had no military forces stationed in them. Which was why they had relocated most of the refugees into those cities, and now knowing that the TSAB would almost certainly bomb them, in hindsight that was a rather large mistake.

As for Solesta I, that planet had one single main continent that was all large mountains and volcanoes. Solesta I, perhaps due to it's extreme geological situation, had a ton of rare minerals hidden within it's surface, and mining the mountains, despite the hardships, was an extremely profitable venture. And as a side note, the mountain top cities were also defensive gold mines. The topography would make attacking and moving an army a major headache, even to the TSAB, and the cities were all super fortified.

The second part of the plan had involved moving all of their remaining Marine forces, and any soldiers the could conscript from the population, onto Solesta I and to build a ground based last stand point, just like at Vol IV.

That plan got shot straight to hell when they found out that they had moved over one hundred million soldiers, along with almost all of the Strikers and Ace forces, and anything else that could be used in a ground battle, into one giant bull's eye, all so that the TSAB could bombard them from orbit.

The worst part about that, was that there was really no solution. Ground forces need to stay on the ground, and anywhere on the ground would translate into instant death for them. What would they do with them, release all of the tanks in space? Not only was that concept ridiculous, but also impractical. Ground based weapons are designed to be used within an atmosphere, and wont work quite as well in space, and since they are designed to be used on a planet, without destroying the planet, they are nowhere near as powerful as naval grade weapons. There was a reason why attacking a planet with a ship was a major war crime, and a reason why shooting the same planet with a tank was not worth even mentioning.

"Sir... Sir are listening?"

Craig was brought out of his musings by one of the maintenance guys standing in front of his desk trying to grab his attention. Apparently he had been lost in thought for a while, again. This was not a good habit to get into.

"Sir, we have finished the cleaning and replaced the wall panel that was stained."

Now that he was paying attention, Craig noticed that they had finished up. The old wall panel was leaning up against the doorway next to the other man, the new wall panel was slightly cleaner than the adjacent ones, and when Craig actively looked for it, he could see the seams that divided them.

"Good, thank you. Did you get the ceramic shards too?"

"Yes sir, we got vacuumed the area twice, a scan result shows nothing but synthetic fibers, so it should be fine. You should be more careful not to trip, you might have hurt yourself."

"Yeah... I'll do that. Next time I'll make sure I keep the light on so that I don't trip over that plant."

"We also replaced to soil that was lost from the pot, the plant itself was undamaged."

"OK good, well if that's everything, I assume you guys have a lot to do, so I wont hold you up any longer."

"Thank you sir, we will be going then."

The two men packed up their tools and cleaning supplies, loaded them up on a cart that they had brought in, and then also loaded up the old stained section of wall. They were halfway through the door when the one turned back again.

"Sir, I forgot that I also noticed that your chair's arm rest was damaged, would you like u to pick you up another one? We can bring it around later."

"Oh, I hadn't even noticed, it must have been like that for a while then. Yeah, sure, if you could bring me a new one whenever you get a chance."

"No problem Sir."

And with that, the two men pushed the cart out into the hallway, turned and gave a small wave, and then shut the door and were gone. Craig idly rubbed his bruised elbow as he watched them go, glad that he had put his jacket back on and had hid the splotch of injured skin, that being visible would have raised some doubt in regards to his explanation.

Craig was still watching the door absentmindedly while gently trying to sooth the pain in his arm when the door bell rang. A small standard beeping sound that was similar to his terminal's chime, but different enough that you would never confuse them.

"Come on in."

Craig figured it was the maintenance guys back because they forgot something, although Craig couldn't tell what they could be. Instead the door open and Senator Evina Holyhand stepped in.

"Senator, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

Craig hadn't been expecting her, not at all, but he wouldn't let her see him caught of guard. But while he was determined to appear normal and on top of things, the Senator seemed uncharacteristically sullen.

"And now you're back to using the correct titles?"

"I am sure I don't know what your talking about."

For a moment she looked around surveying his office while still standing in the open door, she seemed unsure as to what to do next.

"I saw a maintenance crew leaving here, what happened?"

The change of direction was unusual and Craig found it hard not to let his own confusion at the situation show through, hard, but not impossible.

"Oh, I was getting myself something to drink and left the lights off. I tripped and spilled coffee on the wall. They needed to take the panel out."

"It must have been quite the spill for them to need to remove the panel."

"I uh, tried to clean it up myself, and just made things worse."

"Oh..."

Craig could tell that she doubted the story somewhat, but she didn't seem to care much. Instead she continued to stand there, indecision showing on her face.

"Well... would you like to come in and sit down?"

"...I, uh... I don't... yes... yes I guess I will."

Craig motioned to the chair in front of his desk with his hand, and after a small hesitation, she pulled it out and sat down.

She crossed her arms and legs, and then leaned back, not far enough that the chair rocked backwards, but enough that she was putting as much distance between the two of them as possible.

"So then, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Would it have anything to do with the meeting from earlier? Or perhaps the late Secretary of Industry?"

"No"

One word, that was all he got from her, and then a really awkward silence. Craig studied the Senator across from him. She wouldn't look at him, she was curled up into a defensive posture, she was keeping away from him, all of it made him think that she wanted out of his presence as soon as possible, but she was the one that had came here in the first place, and she was the one that was stalling.

The silence was interrupted not by words, but by the Senator beginning to tap out a song on the arm rest. It was a simple rhythm that Craig didn't recognize, but she kept repeating it over and over again. Finally, he gave up and decided to break the deadlock.

"Well, would you like something to drink? I have tea, coffee, water..."

"Yes... Thank you."

"Um...which one do you want?"

"Alcohol. What kind do you have?"

"Majority of the ones that exist. Do you still drink those tequila sunrises?"

Craig had already gotten up and made his way over to his little bar that he had set up in his office. When he mentioned the tequila sunrise he had looked over his shoulder just in time to see the Senator give a small smile.

"I haven't had one of those in ages."

"One tequila sunrise coming right up. It wont be perfect though, citrus fruits are hard to come by, especially oranges, so I only have some tangerine juice, but it should work."

"Hmm"

Craig went about making the drink, using a bit more flair than what was really necessary, pouring the juice into the cup from a foot above and such. He did this both to calm his nerves, and too buy himself some time to observe the Senator.

Before the war, they had had almost no contact, him being a subordinate of the Secretary of Defense, and she being, well, a Senator. Their fields rarely if ever came into contact. The situation remained the same even after the war had started, it was until he got promoted due to the death of the former Secretary that they started coming in contact with each other, and then it was really only at meetings. None of the work she did went his way, and none of his reports were sent to her, or any of the other Senator's offices for that matter. And as for those meetings, they were at best cordial to each other, and at worst openly hostile.

Although, now that he thought about it, that wasn't exactly true, she had delivered that nice set up before, and he had alerted her about the lip biting thing, although that was more of an effort to poke fun at her than anything else. In fact, now that he thought about it, they weren't really hostile to each other, instead they more or less acted like bickering children, a thought that he found both funny, and kind of concerning.

"Here's your drink, I hope it's up to your standards."

He flashed one of his more dazzling smiles and went to hand her the drink, but she had already reverted to the more reserved and defensive personality she had shown. He held the drink out for a moment while she refused to look at him, and then gave up and put it on the side of the desk within her reach before making his way back around the desk and into his chair.

When he got comfortable in the chair and looked back across the dark plastic desk, he found that while she had stayed back in her own chair, she had at some point reached out and grabbed the drink. She was currently slowly stirring it while watching the colors separate into distinct bands of yellow, orange, and red.

This whole encounter was way out of character, and Craig was at a loss. He had no idea how to respond to her and it was putting him more on edge than he needed to be. He considered prompting her again for some kind of response, but instead opted to let her begin the conversation. He picked up his update report and continued reading from where he had left off.

Or he attempted too, in truth, he was way to distracted for that. Instead of actually reading it, he just stared at it for a few seconds, not absorbing a singled word. Well, at the very least he could act like he was doing something, so if all he could do was stare at a pad absentmindedly, then he would do so intently.

After starring at it blankly for a few seconds, he noticed a clinking sound from across the desk, his curiosity got the better of him and he peeked around the data pad to see what had made the sound.

He felt stupid for a moment, because there was really only one possible cause for the sound, the Senator putting the drink on the table, and the fact that he needed to confirm that was a slight embarrassment. But he did it anyway, and looked around just in time to see her retreating back into the chair, the empty glass resting on the side of his desk.

He was both surprised and a little impressed, he had probably put slightly less alcohol in the drink that what was customary, but he had still made a larger than usual drink for her, it was probably around 600 milliliters, and she had finished if off in about a minute.

"Would you like another?"

"No.."

"OK"

"Yes."

"So... you do want one?"

"Yes, please."

"Coming right up. Again."

Craig put his data pad down and got back up to make a second drink. This time, instead of waiting for her to start talking, Craig decided to start things.

"Did you hear anything new about the Secretary of Industry?"

"No."

"Are they still waiting on the medial report?"

"Yes, they said it should be done at around 400 hours."

"I was concerned it might have been a TSAB assassin. Since they were able to send a Holo-transmission directly to the ship, they have to know where we are."

"Mmm..."

Well this topic was going nowhere quickly. Time to change lanes.

"I was talking ti the Vice-Prez, she said you guys want to refuse the surrender terms."

"That is what we decided."

"But?"

"I am not so sure anymore."

"Why's that?"

"I've always believed that if a minority had to be sacrificed to save the majority, then it was worth it. That's why we do Cost Benefit Analysis all the time. If we were just sacrificing a small group to save a larger group I would be behind it, instead..."

"Instead you would be sacrificing almost the entire majority to save a super tiny minority, right?"

"Yes... But, that might still be best. I don't know."

Craig was pleased that she had finally started to talk. He finished with her drink, and poured himself a quick glass of wine before making his way back to the desk. He handed her her second drink, and this time she reached out and took it, before sitting back into his chair.

"Red win, I thought you liked white?"

"I do, white is my favorite, but I already ran out of it."

"Oh... do you still get that drink, what was it called again?"

"I have no idea."

"A Bay Breeze right?"

"No, I don't drink those, never have."

"I thought you did, weren't they your favorite?"

"No, I am pretty sure I have never even heard of that drink."

Senator Evina Holyhand had this ability to keep a perfectly strait face during almost any circumstance. She rarely used it, but when she did she was impossible to see through. This was one of those times, Craig couldn't tell whether she legitimately was not sure what he drank, or if she was making fun of him. He suspected it was the latter.

To his great shame, his favorite drink had been the Bay Breeze at one point, and although he hadn't had one in years, is suspected that it probably was still his favorite. Craig had first tried it at a post exam party one night. One of the girls he had been after had been drinking it, and when he had "Lost" his own cup, he had moved over to hers, and found that what ever he had been drinking was really, really good. He had practically left the girl standing while he went over to the bartender to figure out what he was drinking. Craig wasn't sure exactly how many of those he went through that night, but he knew that it was a lot. And from that point on, for the next couple of months he nearly doubled his alcohol intake almost entirely on Bay Breezes, right until some one told him that they were notoriously Chick Drinks. To everyone's great amusement, Craig had become the guy who couldn't handle Real Liquor, and his friends had made fun of him until basically the day they had graduated.

"Well after I finish this, I would like a Bay Breeze."

"Why don't you finish what you have before you start ordering a second... never mind, I'll get you a Bay Breeze."

As Craig had started talking, she had grabbed her drink and downed it in one go, then tapped the empty cup on the side of the desk before handing it back to him. Craig caught a small smirk peeking through as she did.

"Well, since your having one, I might as well try it. I don't really like girly drinks like this though."

"I though you had never heard of them before."

Craig moved back over to the bar, leaving his wine untouched on the desk, and not giving her the satisfaction of an answer to that. After a moment back at the bar, Craig came back with two Bay Breezes.

"Now that you've made me make a drink that I hate, twice might I add, why don't you tell me why we decided to drop by, not that I don't enjoy your company or anything, but well, you know..."

All at once, the semi-playful expression on her face disappeared and was replaced with the original sullen one from earlier, but at least she didn't retreat back into the chair.

"My parents are on Divina Prime. There weren't enough transports to evacuate everyone, in fact there were almost no transports at all."

"Ah. So..."

"So, they want me two have a military ship pick them up."

"OK."

"I asked chief Gold and she said she could get a small scouting ship to pick them up then."

"OK, well I don't really see a problem then."

"Were am I going to take them to then? The Panther System is the closest, but once the TSAB hit Divina and the research station, that system will be cut off from the rest. And as we just found out, no planet is safe at all."

"There really isn't much that anyone can do at this point, we no longer even share a border with the Irlians, it would require going through TSAB controlled space to try to make it there. And the Belkans..."

"Chief Gold said that she could send the scout, but that it wouldn't be able to rejoin with the other ships then. I would be temporarily saving my parents, for what, maybe a week? And to do so I would be weakening the overall defensive effort."

Craig wasn't really sure what to say in this situation, or what she wanted to hear, but remaining silent didn't seem like a good idea either.

"My parent's, well my father and step-mother, were part of the observers on day one. When the TSAB emerged and attacked, they were killed. They were some of the first people to be killed in the war."

"Chief Gold said that there is only a small window of opportunity to safely divert the scout and pick them up. I couldn't decided what to do then so she said she would hold off as long as possible..."

"When does the window close?"

"What time is it now?"

"About one-forty five."

"It closed five minutes ago."

"Oh..."

Craig had no idea what to say or do now. The Senator was a rolling ball of emotions that Craig couldn't even begin to decipher, and even if he could, he wouldn't know how to handle it. She was clearly torn about her decision, but Craig wasn't sure what to say to make her feel better about, or even if she would want him too, or for that mater, if that was even a good idea.

"I'll get you another drink."

For the fourth time, Craig got up and went back to the bar. This time he didn't bother being dramatic and instead just quickly made her another Sunrise before putting it down on the side of the desk.

"Here, I made it a little stronger."

"Thanks, I don't know why I am bothering you with this, but for what it's worth, Thank you Craig."

"It's no problem at all, I believe we are still friends right?"

"I'm not sure. Legally or otherwise. "

"Well... you know, I-"

"I should go. I have a lot to do. And it's late, I should probably get some sleep before the TSAB Admiral calls back to get an answer. And from the looks of things, you still have this stack of papers to go through."

She downed her drink in one go again, and then got up to leave. She was just slightly wobbly due to the excessive amount of alcohol that she had drank in a short time, but Craig new from experience that she could hold her liquor, even better than him sometimes.

"I hate paper."

"Hah, you still haven't gotten over that? You need to grow up, it's just paper."

"Its rough and uncomfortable to hold, and it gives you paper cuts. I can't stand holding any kind of paper unless it is treated. That's why we use data pads."

"Then some one must dislike you to have sent that stack of papers."

"Yeah, well, I uh, good luck Evina."

"Thanks Craig."

She had barely even finish speaking when the door shut, leaving Craig alone in his office with his thoughts. He hadn't mentioned it, because he knew that she had to have been aware, but once she had stood up to leave, Craig had seen small tears running down her face.

He still had some work to do, but he knew he wouldn't be able to focus. His thoughts of family from much earlier during the meeting were back, and he wasn't happy about it.

The update and stack of paper would come later, now he had personal things to work out.


	8. Chapter 8

So here we have Chapter 8.

Nothing much to say here, just a couple of minor things.

First, I removed the glossary chapters from the story. I actually did this when I was putting chapter 7 up, but forgot to mention it. I did leave the chapters glossaries at the bottom of the early chapters tho.

I also killed off the rather largest author's notes from the first chapters.

So, the stories total size shrunk a bit there.

Next, I am still looking for a beta reader, and the offer from last chapter stands.

And lastly, reviews, both a request for more, and a response to LEGENDARY and drinker.

drinker. I can't say much without giving stuff away. However, there is a difference between the Betrayers Manga. In that, everyone is taking the burden on themselves to become the bad guy, but in reality it is to unify everyone and is for the greater good. It reminded me of Code Geass in that sense.

In this, the TSAB is clearly evil. They have a reason for the fall, and a really shaky justification, but they are knowingly doing evil, have been doing it since their almost collapse years ago, and will continue.

LEGENDARY. The ASN had no reason to trust the TSAB about the surrender, and they also have no reason to believe that they are in fact just obliterating the planets. Craig however doe beilve what the Admiral said, but you are right. For the ASN to accept those terms, they also need to be able to trust the TSAB. Of course, it doesn't really matter, if the took the terms, and then got betrayed and killed, then they would all be dead. If they don't take the terms, and loose, which they probably will, then they all end up dead.

And as for trying to capture some TSAB tech, the ASN has been trying that, but the TSAB goes out of their way to prevent it. Since the ASN hasn't even managed to hold their position once, their only chance is to come back after a battle and see if they can grab something.

That's why it was a big deal about that bomber that crashed into a ASN ship with the two combat cyborg mages in it. That was the ASN's first glimpse at TSAB tech, and their first look at a TSAB soldier.

And the ASN doesn't know it, but even if they did get something, it wouldn't do anything for them. The TSAB isn't using a trick that if the ASN got a hold of, they could reverse engeneir or come up with counter measures, instead, every TSAB unit is just magnitudes better than what the ASN uses. It would be like if a Taliban soldier captured an American tank. In theory they could use the tank for a while, but once it ran out of fuel, or something else, or it got damage, that would be the end of it. Just capturing that tank wouldn't allow them to produce it, nor would it give them a sure fire way to defeat more tanks. Because the Taliban lacks the high end manufacturing capacity to make tanks, lacks the resources, and lacks the technical expertise to make a tank.

Thats what the ASN would find themselves in if they tried. Eventually they would figure out how the TSAB equipment works, and probably could replicate it with time, but they would lack the capacity to do it in an efficient manner. Instead of making one TSAB gun, they could make 50 of their own.

Chapter 8

January 19th, Uminari City, Downtown, Earth, 17:21 UDT

"Reclassifying object number 4-0-9-5-1 as Contracted Mage, Senior Grade, Signum Yagami. Scan reveals presence of Ancient Belkan Cartridge System on a Device, classification, Armed Device, Belkan made. Reclassifying Contracted Mage Senior Grade Signum Yagami from Mid-Childa trained Mage to Belkan trained Knight. Saving and transmitting data."

Once the Mechanized Infantry, Lima Model had turned to face her, it dull monotone voice had emitted from some form of speaker. Apparently, it was attempting to classify her.

"Apologizes Contracted Mage Senior Grade Signum Yagami, I can not comply with your request. Article 7, subsection 57 allows TSAB owned and operated artifacts to ignore orders if they contradict existing orders, and originate from a lower ranking officer. Your rank, Contracted Mage Senior Grade, is not sufficient to override my existing orders."

Signum lowered her sword, combat was seeming less likely now, and she was not expecting the Mechanized Infantry to actually be able to converse with her.

"According to my information, you are a prototype still under development, you would not be following orders from the TSAB then."

"I can neither confirm nor deny that statement."

"If you are working on behalf of the TSAB, who gave you your orders? And what rank where they?"

"That information is classified."

"Then what are the details of your mission?"

"Primary objective is to rendezvous with entire squad at Point Omega, Secondary objectives are classified."

"Where is Point Omega? Perhaps I can offer to escort you."

"Negative, Primary objective must be completed at a designated time. Details of Point Omega are Classified."

"Ok, I Assume that the designated time is also classified?"

"Affirmative."

"My information says that your transport, the Ovila, went out of control and crash landed here. I find it unlikely that your objective has anything to do with this planet."

"Apologizes Contracted Mage Senior Grade Signum Yagami, information pertaining to the Ovila is classified."

"I have to consider that you are damaged and malfunctioning then."

"Self Diagnostic commands are showing that Lima Unit is operating 99.8408% efficiency. Diagnostic confirms that Lima Unit is undamaged and operating within expected parameters."

Shamal, this is going nowhere.

Yes, it doesn't seem like it's going to listen. But it is very cooperative. I don't want to have to break it.

Nor do I, but we are running out of alternatives.

Well, if you distracted it, I can probably hold it with a Bind, then I can transport it somewhere out of the way and we can deal with it there. Perhaps Admiral Lindy or Admiral Markly will have the authority to order it to stand down.

Alright, lets go with that.

Signum's job was about to switch from destruction, to distraction, which while not nearly as satisfying, would still be a good exercise. And since she no longer intended to destroying it, she needed a new approach.

Therefore, she slowly backed up off the sidewalk and into the magically empty multi-laned street. The Machine across from her stood motionlessly, trying to analyze her movements to the best its computerized mind could handle. Signum assumed that when it had classified her as a knight, it had made basic assumptions on her fighting style, assumptions that were almost certainly mostly accurate. She did after all have to close in to attack with melee weapons, so the obvious move for a knight would be to get closer to the enemy, Signum moving backwards should confuse it, or at the very least keep it from anticipating her moves. Not that she was particularly concerned, she highly doubted that it would even pose a danger to her, but still, Signum was not one to ever take combat with anything less than 100% seriousness.

The Machine continued watching her until she had backpedaled to the opposite sidewalk, once there, she brought Laevatein back up and into a combat stance, it wasn't until she had started to gather Mana and started laying fields down on herself that Lima finally broke the silence.

"Lima Unit's projections show a 79.1201% chance of an escalation of negotiations into a combat situation. Lima Unit invokes article 7, Subsection 57, which states that it is unlawful for Contracted Mage Senior Grade Signum Yagami to interfere with Lima Unit's Mission."

Instead of answering, Signum kept increasing her Mana without using cartridges, as long as the increase was gradual enough, she suspected that the unit wouldn't make the first move, and would allow her the initiative.

"If combat were to occur, Lima Unit would be authorized to defend itself, lethal force could be used."

She just needed to gather a little more Mana to be able to switch Laevatein into Snake form, which had been her plan from the start. Originally she had intended to aim for Lima's legs while charging forward, now she would be doing the same, but she would be holding back enough to not actually damage it.

"Preparing for combat. Assessing threat level for Contracted Mage Senior Grade Signum Yagami."

"Assessing..."

"Assessing..."

"Completed. Contracted Mage Senior Grade Signum Yagami Threat Level assessed at threat level D-"

Signum almost faltered in her preparations, Lima's assessment of her causing her to almost forget what she was trying to do.

The TSAB uses a simple ranking system to define and categorize almost all things magic, and the scale starts at F-, and then works it's way all the way up to SSS+. Only the A ranks and S ranks go into doubles and triples, all of the other ranks just go from minus, to standard, and then to plus, and then rank up to the next letter. This system is used for absolutely everything, from general mage ranks, of which Signum herself was ranked S+, to individual aspects of a Mage, such as speed, defensive ability, reactions, endurance, Mana reserves, offense, and range. The system even extended to individual spells and abilities, such as Takamachi's Divine Buster, or Testarossa's Photon Lancer or her own Snake Form and then they are broken down farther into control, power, duration, and such.

Also, the system was used to categorize the threat that an individual or object might pose. Vita was ranked S class, but her threat level to various Mages might be different. Against Takamachi, Vita's threat level was probably the same as her rank, against Testarossa, it was much lower due to to huge speed difference.

All of that didn't particularly interest Signum, centuries of constant warfare had given rise to a level of insight that allowed her to instinctively gauge an opponent's strength. It was nearly as precise as the TSAB's approach, but it didn't require a lab of people analyzing every scrap of data, it was also quicker and harder to fool; unfortunately, it didn't work that well on machines.

Signum would have put Lima on the same scale as maybe a B ranked mage, and as for a threat level towards her, she would have put it somewhere near the complete bottom. But the fact that Lima assessed her as Threat Level D-, which is probably only slightly more than she had given it, had caused her to momentarily pause, and alter her own assessment.

Lima obviously couldn't read her strength, and not being able to tell your opponent's strength was it's own form of weakness, now she had assessed it as the lowest threat level.

Threat Level D-? Have you been neglecting your training?

Telepathy only conveys words, which was a small blessing that Shamal couldn't directly transmit her laughter into Signum's mind. Of course she was laughing, and Signum knew that, but she didn't need it directly in her own mind.

Signum then decided to make some minor adjustments to her plan, the spontaneous and violent kind.

Laevatein popped a singled cartridge, which combined with what she had already gathered, was more than enough. She shifted into a downward stance and swung Laevatein out to the side, right as he screamed,

"SCHLANGE FORM"

The blade popped apart, becoming a segmented sword whip, and then shot forward across the street, coiling around and then skidding across the pavement. When it was mere meters, away she expertly flicked her wrist, the small movement altering the tip's path, sending it into an upward ascent, right towards Lima's shoulder mounted cannon. A split second after, she launched herself across the street towards the prototype mechanized infantry.

Lima now had two threats to deal with, a rapidly approaching weapon which Signum knew from experience, would slice through his armor, even if it was the TSAB's precious ship armor, and the Knight herself. She was clearly the greater threat, but if he ignored the blade, then his only visible weapon would be rendered useless.

"Initiating Barrier Break."

While saying that, Lima launched itself away from the blade and towards it's right, which was exactly what Signum had anticipated and was heading strait for. While the bladed end of Laevatein would miss by a fair margin, Signum still held the sheathe, and while it was nowhere near as powerful of a weapon as the actual sword was, it was still part of an Ancient Belkan Device, and when she used it to smash into Lima's knee from the side, it would be more than enough to severely limit the machine's mobility.

Unfortunately, with just under half the road separating them, Signum realized a couple of things; first, that she had underestimated Lima's grasp of tactics, and second, that she had just walked into its trap.

A Pulse of energy, unlike anything Signum had ever felt from a Mage, rolled out from Lima. And then, immediately off to her left, coming in from her blindside, Signum sensed something extremely large and fast moving.

She moved by reflex, swinging the sheathe out across her chest and building the momentum she would need. Instead of stopping the swing, she spun with it, flicking her right hand out and bringing Laevatein back into it sword form while popping another cartridge. Just as the approaching attack had entered optimal range, and right after the flames had burst out of Laevatein, Signum finished her spin and lashed out with her sword; her backhanded attack catching the object and effortlessly slicing through it in a downward angle.

She had intended to follow through with the slash, once Laevatein had cleared the object she was going to convert back into Snake Form and aim for Lima's Knee, the same one she had been aiming for a half second ago, but she was forced to abandon the plan for two reasons.

The first was that Lima had continued its own charge side ways, and was now just barely on the boarder of being within range. Signum was confident she would be able to hit him, but she would have to over extend herself, leaving herself open for a counter attack. A counter attack that she knew was coming; Lima's chest had popped open, revealing a small three barreled cannon, a make that Signum recalled as a small scale anti-aircraft weapon, which while not designed to be used on a ground target, at this range would be effective enough to cause a problem. And because it was a rapid fire weapon, if Signum allowed the initial barrage to hit, Lima would keep up the fire, forcing her to fall back and regroup, thus causing her to loose the initiative.

That was the tactical problem, and despite the issues with it, she still would have followed through with the attack, Lima's AA weapon wouldn't pack enough punch to seriously wound her, let alone disable her, and if she went through with her own attack, Lima's mobility would be almost completely removed, if he wasn't just out right destroyed. It was only because her Mistress would be upset if she came back injured, and her own desire for perfection that Signum was even considering falling back.

That, and the second issue.

Attacking Lima with Laevatein still on fire, and while going all out like she would need too, would be sacrificing control and precision for the needed strength and speed. To get Laevatein's blade where it needed to be in time, Signum would be giving up her capacity to stop it afterward, and the nice shinning glass entrance way of whatever building was there would receive a rather large amount of collateral damage. Not that it couldn't be repaired, the Sealed Space Barrier was intended for this exact reason, to create a sub-dimension that kept damage separate from the real world. As long as the Barrier remained, the damaged could be leisurely repaired and then the sub-dimension would be allowed to recombine with the original. It was just that repairing the damage is difficult, and they were already tight with resources.

And while the building could be repaired, the people who where standing in front of it, about twenty of them, they would not be able to be repaired, when Laevatein cut through them, those that would survive, would be severely injured.

For a moment, Signum was unsure how people had managed to slip though Shamal's Barrier, but with the realization that they had, she immediately went into action,

With a jolt Signum slammed her foot into the ground, shattering the pavement and halting her rotation. Before she could even begin to move, she was forced duck as the burning, top section the public bus that she had just cut in half, flew over her head. She dropper her stance, dodging under the bus as it soared over her, all the while resisting the instinct to just slash at it again and destroy it.

The bus was about halfway past her when Lima opened fire, the three stubby cannons in his chest glowing gray for a second before discharging their energy in the form of a high speed gray energy bolt. Signum had seen those cannons in action before, the shot's would close in and then violently separate into about fifty smaller high density bolts that would tear small unarmored craft apart, or the shot could stay intact to give it more stopping power for larger targets. Signum doubted Lima would use the scatter function, she was effectively pinned down, but either way, the bus would get caught up in the explosion, and Signum couldn't let those people get any more injured that what she had already done.

Defensive spells were never Signum's strong point, and in the fractions of a second remaining to her, she knew there was no way she would be able to raise any kind of shield or barrier that would be able to protect the bus. She only had one available option, and her pride as a knight demanded that she take it, so without a moments hesitation, she hurled herself towards Lima in an effort to use her body to shield the bus. It wouldn't work perfectly, but it was all she had.

However, right before she cleared the underside of the bus, two things happened simultaneously. Blue chains sprang into existence, leaping out from the ground and wrapping themselves around the bus. The chains caught the front of the bus and pulled it down, preventing it from careening into the now crowed road. While the bus was dropping, the same chains latched onto Lima, coiling around his legs and torso and rooting him down to the ground. The second thing was the appearance of a large rectangular wall of the same blue magic. The barrier flared into existence an inch from Signum's nose.

The Sword Knight halted her charge right before she hit the barrier, just in time to see the first of Lima's AA fire explode spectacularly against it. The shock wave cracked the ground and knocked the pedestrians, who hadn't even realized what was happening, over and into the front of the building.

The second bolt hit and exploded with equal force, the building shook, the glass windows and doors shattering and the rock foundation began to crack. The explosions were beginning to obscure Lima, but from what Signum could see, the blue binds that were holding him in place had almost entirely dissipated.

With the impact and explosion of the third shot, Signum lost sight of it completely. The bus had just hit the ground, skidding across the road, sparks flying and metal tearing as it flew into the opposite lane, it smashed into one car, knocking it backwards, battered another out of it's way before smashing into a van and coming to a rest.

SHAMAL, We need to fall back

Agreed. Two short range teleports coming right up.

A fourth round flew in and exploded, from what Signum noticed was a different direction; Lima had apparently broken the binds and was back on the move. Signum wanted to return the attack with Laevatein, but with low visibility and all they people, she couldn't risk it.

SHAMAL!

Sorry, there is interference. One sec.

A fifth and sixth shot exploded against the barrier, more glass shattered and part of the ground started caving in, apparently there was a tunnel of some form underneath them, but Shamal's barrier barely even shook.

NOW!

Going out, now.

For a split second Signum saw the barrier fade out of existence, and then in a blue flash her mind blanked out.

When she came to, she was standing alone, inside of a boiler room of some form, which was a far cry from the chaos of the street she had just left.

Shamal, where are we?

Good question. I am on a roof someplace. Where are you?

It looks like a maintenance room. Why were we split up

There was some kind of interference that was preventing me from teleporting us away. I would have figured it out eventually, but we didn't have time, so instead I relaxed the parameters.

Relaxed?

Instead of trying to go somewhere specific, I went with somewhere far enough away that wasn't currently occupied.

That was dangerous.

Yes, we could have appeared in street again, or a room of people, but it was better than staying there. Also, I have a better grasp on our locations, I can't sense Lima, but I can see smoke coming up now, I am about ten to fifteen blocks away, and you are another two or three. You're underground, I guess a subway maintenance room.

Ok, can you teleport me out? Or is the interference still there?

No, that cleared up right away, Lima was somehow causing it. I couldn't sense it until I tried to get us out and couldn't lock onto any coordinates.

Was it trying to prevent us from escaping?

I don't think so, while you were busy I got a chance to study it a bit, I didn't sense it casting anything that would have done this, perhaps it dual cast it along with something else, but duel castings are nearly impossible for machines. I think the interference was always there.

What purpose would that serve?

Well it would cause the same problem we had, but more than likely, it was to prevent others from teleporting closer. The field can't be sensed, and if you didn't know it was there, it would cause the teleportation spell to fall apart, possibly leaving you stranded within the Lines.

That isn't good.

No, no it isn't. Unless we know the location is secure, we can't teleport with them around. I am going to risk this one, but I will be teleporting us pretty far into the air, but still, I don't want to take chances. One second...

All of a sudden, the world around her flashed blue again, overwhelming her senses, and for the second time in less than a minute, she found herself in a new location, this time she was almost a hundred meters in the air, floating over Testarossa's apartment.

Mistress is not going to be happy.

Signum, you are too hard on yourself. Hayate-Chan will be happy that you're home safe and sound.

No, I am not happy, I've failed, and Mistress Hayate wont blame me, but that doesn't change the fact. Mistress will be upset because she will know that I am.

Awwww, Signum, your getting pretty good at this.

Shamal...

I like the cute side of our brave leader.

Shamal!

Sorry, sorry, you're just too fun to tease. But, now isn't the time.

Lets just go.

Signum, you know, the less you blame yourself, the less the mistress will be saddened.

I know Shamal, I know.

With a heavy atmosphere, the two Knight descended down to the building.

-Page-

January 19th, Uminari City, Fate's apartment, Earth, 17:39 UDT

[This is Sasaki Akiko from Flower TV, reporting live from downtown Uminari City. We are right on the outskirts of the scene where multiple explosions just ripped through the nightlife. The police are currently keeping us at bay, but from what we can see, there is extensive damage to the road and surrounding buildings. Nishinishi Financial Bank's regional headquarters seems to have taken the most damage, the windows are broken and the marble entrance is in shambles.

[Nishinishi just renovated the build, am I right Sasaki-San?]

[Yes you are, the building renovations were wrapped up last November, but now look at the damage. Even the sidewalk in front of the build has collapsed into the sewer tunnels bellow.]

[Sasaki-San, I am seeing a lot of damaged cars, what happened there?]

[The police are still piecing that together, but, it appears that in the confusion some motorist lost control of their vehicles, causing a twelve car pile up that severely hampered the emergency responder's efforts to get to the the site of the explosions. Worth mentioning, the crash involved one, possibly two, cities buses. Details are sketchy at the moment, but if you'll look over here, you can definitely see the burn wreckage of a bus.]

[Sasaki-San, do the police know what happened?]

[Tentatively, they are claiming it to be a gas explosion, however people are saying that that doesn't hold up. Terrorism is also being discussed. All I can say, is that at this point, no one knows.]

[Now the question that every one is concerned about, have the police released names of the injured?]

[The police are not releasing names right now, in fact, I don't even know if they have all of the injured out yet. So far we have seen over twenty people being taken out in stretchers to waiting emergency vehicles, and an unknown amount have been airlifted to Uminari Hospital. The police have yet to say if there have been any deaths, but looking at the damage here, if no one had died, it would be a miracle.]

[Well all of our thoughts here, from all of us at the studio, are with the injured and their families in this time of tragedy. Sasaki-San, I hope you will continue following things there and let us know when there are any breakthroughs?]

[Will do, this is Sasaki Akiko from Flower TV.]

[Thank you Sasaki-San, now while the recent tragedy is currently our main issue, until a few minutes ago, we were instead focused on the loss of TV reception throughout the Japanese mainland, and parts of Hokkaido. We have recently learned, from a press release from NHK, that one of their broadcasting satellites was struck with a small, undetected meteorite. The receiving array was damaged and the satellite was knocked from it's orbit. NHK has not stated whether or not it would be able to be stabilized and then repaired, but experts around the country are saying that it is unlikely. The satellite in question, B-SAT 2a,was a Geostationary satellite that covered a large section of the country. For now, with no quick fix, NHK is working with other satellite controllers to try and cover as much of the country as possible, but for now, a large part of the country is going to be without TV, internet, and even phone service. Now we have with us, a Mr. Chang, who previously worked for NHK, and he is going to try to explain the-]

"This is not good."

"Admiral Markly, that is quite the understatement."

"No... it isn't that bad yet, it's just not good. No one knows exactly what happened, and the loss of the communications satellite is preventing the spread of real information, giving us time to do some damage control. My people have already deleted any footage from security cameras on that road, and are actively spreading misinformation amongst the internet forums. The real problem, or should I say problems, are the Mechanized Infantry."

"I am sorry Admiral, we didn't think they would be that powerful."

"No, no, Miss Yagami, that isn't Miss Signum's fault at all. We had almost no actual information on them in the first place, and ignored the little we did because we had assumed that they would not be active. And while that particular moment could have gone better, the opposite is also true, it could have gone much worse"

"Not to mention that we learned a fair bit about them too, both spec wise, and as for their motives, if it could be called motives, they seem to be malfunctioning."

"Regardless, if Lima's words are to be trusted, then it is part of a squad, meaning at least two more are active, but we should assume that all of them are operational, and we can assume that Lima, being a support unit, is the weakest of the four."

"Has Verzi-Tech said anything new, now that they know their products are still functional?''

"No, they just repeated their issues of confidentiality and a lack of trust is our comm lines. They did say that their representative would be here within the hour. That reminded me, I need to ask Miss Testarossa to grant them access to the house, do you know where she is?"

"Arf, her familiar, locked her in her room in an effort to force her to rest. My daughter can be a bit pigheaded when it comes to not pushing herself, a trait that all three of our young mages here seem to share. However, I can give permission for the representative to enter, I am a sub owner of this house."

"Good, then we will leave her to rest. Miss Yagami, I leave you and Admiral Lindy in charge of the base camp, I will be going out to meet up with Miss Tackamachi. Our searching efforts are now many times more important, but now many times harder since we can't fly, so I can't be seen sitting around up here while the young ones do all the work, now can I?"

"Don't worry Admiral, command and control our what we are best at, right Hayate-Chan?"

"Good then, I will leave it to you."

-Page-

January 19th, Uminari City, Lobby of Fate's Apartment, Earth, 17:44 UDT

The ride down the highrise's elevator had been uneventful, it hadn't made any other stops and the Admiral had the entire car to himself. The Building was technically only 35 stories high, Miss Testarossa's living quarters added an extra four levels to the building. Which was an interesting fact, because even with a relatively large training room built in, the entire space should have fit within only a single floor. Instead, her house was built with hallways and staircases separating each room, obviously a sign that it's designer had already become unstable if she had built a house like that. In fact, the entire idea of building the house on top of another building like that was just a tad bit insane. It did have it's strong points, but the risks were massive, as where the costs, for what Precia Testarossa had investing in a oddly designed house, she could have just built another dimensional base like the Garden of Time.

Regardless, while the house was an interesting anomaly, and being in it for the first time was...informative, he had already seen all of the details, so there really wasn't anything new for him to see, plus, he had more pressing concerns.

Public knowledge of their activities was the worst possible outcome, and they had been failing at keeping this under wraps in the most spectacular ways possible. A small, high speed meteorite would suffice as an explanation for the satellite, and for those who did really know what happened, his team had taken care of most of them, and the others would have nothing to gain by spreading that information. Just in case, he would keep an eye on things for another year or two, just to make sure no one leaked anything.

The recent battle in the street was going to be harder to deal with. Blaming it on Terrorism was the best bet; no one was going to believe the gas explosion explanation that the police had initial released, if only because there would be some thousand or so public workers who would know without a doubt that there were no gas lines there. Unfortunately, the terrorism explanation was going to require more post-opt work. After things died down, he would have to make sure that there were more terrorist incidents, and these ones would need to leave behind some actual evidence. Not necessarily a problem, but he disliked such heavy handed tactics.

But all of that would be a moot point if their existence was revealed any more than it already was. The Lima unit had likely escaped into the sewers, which as long as it stayed there, would be perfect. However, with the other three possibly active, and wandering around, the situation could quickly spin out of control.

Keeping his newly acquired assets out in the field in an effort to find them, despite it's low odds of success, was still his best option. But with the ability to search now hampered by the swarming local media, it was basically like finding a needle in a haystack. The odds of them actually discovering one of the other units, or even the Lima unit when they already had a rough idea of where to look, were just not worth mentioning. But with all of his people out and about, they would better be able to react when something did inevitably go wrong.

And his other options were limited, he had to split his crew on the removal of the Ovila, and with destroying evidence, and while the latter task there was moving along well, the first was not. He was short staffed due to the split, and already the Terra had picked up three ships moving into the area, a Japanese self defense ship, and American missile ship on exercises, and a joint American and Korean oceanic mapping ship. He had about a day to get the outskirts cleaned and to hide the rest under some very potent stealth fields, but he was going to be pushing it. And now he needed to divert people to spin control of this latest mishap, and probably to help in the search. Once the clean up team finished in San Diego and he was able to recall the support team, he could keep at least one of them on standby, and use another as a searcher, he could also possibly bring in one of his mage team members too. There was also Vier, she was still on the Outpost, but if the representative from Verzi-Tech ended up not being as forthcoming as he would like, he would need to arrange for a transport to get Vier here long enough to preform an interrogation.

Yes, there was a lot to do, but he would do it. He did have unilateral ability to command the situation, in a worse case scenario, the Terra's Dimensional Vindince cannon applied directly to the nearest tectonic fault line would cause enough devastation to obscure everything that was happening. That would of course be a last of the last resorts, his, and Mobile Section 2's main object was not only to prevent the earthlings from learning of magic, but to also protect the planet at all costs, he could only ever cause that level of damage if it was an absolute necessity.

So while pondering thoughts of possibly destroying the entire city, Admiral Winston Markly strolled out of the elevator and down the main hallway to the lobby, his cane clicking against the tile floor until he was met by one of the many inhabitants of the city, Nanoha Takamachi.

"Miss Takamachi, you didn't need to wait, I would have been able to catch up."

The young girl fixed him with a stare and said nothing. Instead, she just fell into step beside him as he continued on out of the lobby and into the cold January air.

Nanoha Takamachi, Contracted Mage Senior Grade of the Air Forces, was the more interesting of his new temporary assets. As a fully developed Mage from Earth, she was an enigma. Unlike Miss Yagami, Miss Takamchi was a natural mage, not getting her powers from a powerful Lost Logia, which was already a strange enough occurrence, but the fact that she was such a powerful Mage was what made her so unique and intriguing. He had traced her genetics, she had no connection to any of the major Magical blood lines on Earth, so her magic wasn't genetic, which ruled out that possibility. And her environment was normal too, and had an abundance of technology, a fact that usually hampers Magical development. There was nothing unique or out of the ordinary that would indicate that she would develop into an S ranked mage. It was very odd.

Admiral Markly had more than a passing interest in her too, normally any earth born Mages would become part of Section 2, for what ever reason his predecessor hadn't recruited her, he wasn't sure. And now he got to meet her in person, and that had only increased his interest.

"I get the feeling you don't like me very much."

He said it as a kind of off hand comment, meant to surprise her into giving away details.

Instead she looked up at him from her position at his side and responded immediately.

"I don't dislike you Admiral Markly-San. We've just met."

If he hadn't been used to seeing through Vier's face all the time, he would have believed the angelic face she had on right then. But he did have a lot of practice, and he did see through her, but barely.

"Hmm, perhaps it's more like... You don't trust me?"

"I don't know why you would think that."

"I guess it's just a hunch. But either way, I have picked up an interest in you."

They reached an intersection while the light was red and were forced to stop and wait. After a short pause, the light turned and they made their way across.

"Before coming here, or I should say while we were on our way, I had the time to look over your records."

They were passing though one of the busier areas, the road was lined with cafes and other restaurants. Most of them had outdoor patio sections, but they were mostly empty, the cold and bitter wind driving the people inside.

"Your aptitude tests and Mage ranking assessments along with most of your training data were fascinating."

While no one was eating outside, the sidewalks were far from empty; people walked briskly to and from buildings, others took more leasurly paces as they walked to farther destinations, taxi cabs pulled up and ejected people only to be immediately filled again. The environment might have pushed people to stay inside longer, but it wouldn't prevent them from leaving entirely.

"But I found your combat missions to be the most interesting of the bunch. Your work on Zestus XI was commendable, as was your rescues on the Lilic Asteroid facility. The operations on the Jikintiz Moon was well done too. Everything you do is done well."

The cold had failed to keep people in, as had the recent incidents. The last report he had received was that two bystanders had died in the small battle, and several others were in critical condition, two of which were not expecting to survive. And despite that, everyone went about their business like a unexplained explosion hadn't just moments ago torn through the heart of the city.

"Worth noting was your rather unique way of keeping those transports from crashing into the refugees on Hrend II. Gently pushing Axel Shooter orbs into the underbelly of four transports at once to push them off course or to stall long enough for the people to move was rather inventive. Not many Mages would have considered that, let alone been able to pull it off."

He wanted to call them brave, foolish, but still brave, but he knew that was wrong. The people weren't brave, they were just unaware. The news media of this world, just like most others, focused solely on the bad, spewing a tidal wave of negativity out, that after a while just numbs the recipient to it. The people weren't dealing with the danger, nor were they consciously ignoring it, they were just conditioned to not be able to notice it. Sad really.

"And then there was that mission to take out a smuggler base Non-administered Planet 144. you simultaneously attacked over thirty defense turrets built around the base so that they wouldn't have a chance to activate their defenses. You, by yourself, accomplished what would have been difficult for a highly trained team of Mages working with perfect cooperation."

The small part of his mind that wasn't considering all of the pedestrians as potential witness and hindrances, and instead viewed them as actual humans, wanted to warn them, because if the destruction of the Sealed Space Barrier wasn't some kind of fluke, and if the other units could pull off the same trick, their would definitely be more casualties if they were to confront them again. Unfortunately, that part of his mind was so small it almost didn't exist. Instead of worrying about which people here, out of the hundred around them, might end up hurt, he was focusing on how to track down and remove the ones that might end up seeing something that they shouldn't have.

That, and the conversation with this fascinating young girl that he was walking with.

"But what interested me the most, out off all of the reports I read, and video logs I watched, were probably your missions on Nestus III, Non-administered World 50, the Cirilina System, the Yishi Station, the Bis Nebula, Uninhabited World 354, and that chase in Sector Delta 9."

When the first syllable of Nestus III had left his mouth, the girl had faltered just slightly in her step, if it had been anyone but him, they would have missed the small pause. But he hadn't. And then she was back to normal, still in step with him, not saying a word.

"Those missions were fascinating. As you know, missions containing the capture of S class or higher criminals are kept confidential for various reasons. Generally speaking, only the commanding officer of such missions, and sometimes the direct superiors of the agents who take place in the operations are ever shown the recordings. Luckily for me, the special circumstances were dire enough for me to be allowed access to those files."

A lie of course, the special circumstances had nothing to do with his ability to view her records. Technically, he did have the security clearance to request those files, but he didn't need too follow the procedures, all data pertaining to any Mage from Earth was made available to him at all times, a perk to being Director of Mobile Section 2.

"Lets see, first there was Todosen, the crazed monk, one of the last few practitioners of Ancient Belkan Kiaser Arts, the founding system that the more modern Strike Arts were based on. He traveled through the dimensions, challenging what he claimed were worthy opponents, but were usually just random people, to death matches. He stayed in neutral territory, outside of the TSAB's jurisdiction until two years ago when he ventured onto Nestus III. He killed a Mage team who was sent into investigate a disturbance, and then also an Navy Enforcer Team who was sent after him, then you were deployed, bringing it to an end."

Besides that one misstep earlier, she was stoic as she listened too him explaining her exploits. This verbal game of cat and mouse, even if she was staying silent, was exactly the kind of thing he excelled in, and her silence was giving him enormous insight into the young Mage. Not enough to draw the conclusions that he wanted, but soon they would be there.

"Next was Non-administered World 50. Doctor Henry Gustav, a former TSAB researcher, had built a base there, and was performing highly illegal research on the locals, trying to implant artificial Linker Cores into the native reptilian population. Again, you were deployed, and again you wrapped up the incident extremely fast. Then, following Doctor Gustav, you encountered another mad scientist if you will, a Doctor Diana Biscomb. Doctor Biscomb was one of the head researchers for Project F, instead of memory transfer or Linker Core growth, the Doctor instead focused on the physical body aspect. When Project F went under she began producing Cloned humans with extensive genetic modifications. Unlike the previous two, Doctor Biscomb's base of operations had significant defensive potential and guards. Which didn't help her I would like to add. In one of the more unusual moments for you, I believe you personally interrogated Doctor Biscomb after her apprehension."

"That was only because the interrogator was prevented from entering her base. The Cirilina System has intense electrical storms, they prevented the main Mage team from going in on time."

There had been that misstep that she had made earlier, obviously stemming from pure surprise that he had brought the subject up, and that he had highlighted those seven particular missions, but since then, she had remained unmoving and unflinching besides him. But now, as he brought up Doctor Biscomb, she had felt the need to defend her actions.

"Yes, the report mentioned that. How the storm intensified, making Teleportations risky, however you volunteered to go in regardless. Ultimately, only you and a support team got in safely, and then you single handedly took out the defenders and captured the Doctor, before commencing with a short interrogation."

Generally speaking, one doesn't defend themselves unless they think they might have done something questionable; the fact that she did attempt to defend herself, meant that she herself had felt that something was wrong with that mission. From the surface of things, interrogating the Doctor wasn't that unusual, and to a casual observer, her actions in the Cirilina System were no different than her actions on the other six places he had mentioned. Of course, those seven missions were completely different from every other non-classified mission she had been on, but they all had each other in common. However, he was not a casual observer, he had noticed her odd behavior in interrogating the Doctor, had also noticed how she had been, overly eager, to be on the mission in the first place, how she had refused to wait, taking on much greater risk to force through the interference, and he also knew of her connection to Project F, and how she jumped on any opportunity to be involved with missions that pertained to it.

When she had been on the Cirilina System, she had been just slightly different than from when she was on the other six, a fact that she herself was aware of, thus the defense of those actions. And while that didn't tell him anything new, it was just one more piece of the puzzle that was Nanoha Takamachi.

In fact, the mere fact that she did focus on Project F was an anomaly itself. She always volunteered, a bit forcefully, to take on missions that had anything to do with the Project, and when time was an issue, she always seemed to be deployed in the area. Intel would pop up about a possible lead, and she would be conveniently stationed on a nearby system for training. And somehow, with a highly unnatural frequency, normal mundane criminals that she would bring in, would have the strangest connections to the Project; this one occasionally smuggled in supplies, this one helped find financing and funneled money, this one was at one point a client. Somehow, Miss Takamachi had become the single leading force in the destruction of what remained of Project F, a fact that most of her superiors seemed to have overlooked, or at least acted like they didn't care.

But what concerned him, was that her motivation for targeting the Project F, was totally incomprehensible. Revenge would be the first thought, that she was targeting those responsible to avenge Miss Testarossa, but, that didn't really hold up to logic. Any problems that Miss Testarossa may have, would be attributed to her creator, Precia Testarossa, not the project itself, in fact, she should be grateful that the Project existed in the first place, since it allowed her friend to exist. It was possible that she didn't see it that way, but he doubted that greatly, someone who meticulously and methodically went after every aspect of the Project couldn't be lost in anger and irrational like that.

So then, why did she target it? He tried to put himself in her shoes, to see it from her perspective, but he was unable to gleam anything from his attempts. Perhaps his lifetime of deception had prevented him from truly understanding what it meant to have a friend, to have someone to care about. That might be possible, but he was confident that it wasn't the case, he did have people that he cared about, he did have friends, but he understood that that was a weakness, and he also understood that he might need to, and he eventually did, sacrifice them.

He was forced to concluded that it wasn't a matter of understanding and not understanding, but that there was a detail that he was unaware of. That there was more to the picture than he could see, something else, some unknown variable was leading to what seemed like irrational behavior, and once he discovered it, everything would make sense. Unfortunately, he didn't know where to even start looking, and assuming she kept gaining more information from her continued involvement in the project, then he knew he would be unable to follow, since large parts of the information web no longer existed. Databases and computers were destroyed, witnesses, either passive or active participants in the project, had been removed from his access, either through long prison terms, or death through various means. Precia Testarossa would have been a good start, her Garden of Time probably had been a wealth of information, but both where lost at the end of that incident, and there was no telling what Miss Takamachi had learned before that information had been destroyed.

No, that trail was not one he could follow any longer, to find out her motivations he would need to wait until new data made it's way to him, if it ever did. For now, he would have to content himself with what he had, and what he could get, which lead to this rather interesting conversation right now.

"Moving on, on the Yishi Station, the Air Force received a tip that Mario Altomaro, an anti-government terrorist, was hiding out after a his latest attack. Mr. Altomaro was an accomplished Mage and also had a small following of loyal fanatics. You teamed up with a special forces squadron to take out his terrorist cell. You specifically were brought in to handle Mr. Altomaro, since the special forces wouldn't be able to face him alone. You were ultimately successful, but the station received extensive damage in the process."

They stopped at another red light, pausing with another group of people who were all waiting for the light to change. He took this time to steal another look at his companion. Outwardly, she seemed to be just standing there waiting for the light to change, inwardly, he honestly wasn't sure. He was picking up the most particular signs from her, and they weren't matching with any of the things he expected to find.

Saying that the station was damaged was a slight understatement, of course, the station was an old mostly abandoned wreck in the first place, people lived there, but they were all mostly the undesirable aspects of society, smugglers, thieves, refugees, and other people that wouldn't find a welcome if they came to a local TSAB immigration office. Instead, they made a home out of an old Belkan Era resupplying station on the far outskirts of TSAB space. When Mr. Altomaro was taken down, the battle, and resulting damage to the station, was enough to force an immediate emergency evacuation of the station. A token attempt by the TSAB to repair the station only got so far as to patch up the giant breeches in the hull, the station still lacked power and even a livable atmosphere.

He had considered the possibility that she might have viewed that mission as a failure, because while she did take care of the terrorist, she had basically failed to prevent civilian losses. She might have been feeliing guilty about the collateral damage, a possibility that he considered slightly unlikely, but he still mentioned her failure to see if he would get some form of reaction, but instead, he got nothing. Either she didn't feel any guilt, or she didn't consider it a failure, or, she had received enough time to steel her emotions. And if that last one were the case, he would find it nearly impossible to break through that armor now, but, he did enjoy a challenge.

"In the Bis Nebula, you, along with a small Naval task force, were tasked with capturing Lord Geth, the self declared pirate king. Lord Geth, who's real name and identity remain unknown, somehow amassed a small fleet of pirate vessels; they stayed within neutral territory, only leaving to raid far flung Irlian and Allied States outposts and other neutral worlds. Two JST Class Cruisers along with three HK Class Destroyers were deployed to take out his fleet, along with the fleet, a squadron of Strikers, and Three Aces; you, Miss Testarossa, and a senior Navy Ace. Lord Geth kept two decoy ships that were identical to his flagship, so, each one of you were sent towards one of his ships with orders to bring him in alive, you lucked out, being sent to the true flagship, and brought him back almost immediately, although he was a little worse for wear."

The light turned green and the mass of people surged forward, Admiral Markly was about to follow with them, but he noticed that his companion had instead turned and began walking down the road.

"This way is a short cut."

They didn't exactly have a dedicated path to follow, or any kind of real search pattern, whether or not they went left, right, or strait, didn't really matter. But the Admiral disliked the sudden change in direction; he followed anyway, otherwise he would be loosing his initiative and stalling their conversation.

"Alright, lead the way then."

He had had a half second to decide how he would handle this change in directions, as stalling or hesitating would be the worst thing he could have done, he didn't want her to know she had cause him a problem, thus he needed to immediately flow with the situation. Even now, he couldn't see a better way to have handled it, but, he wasn't happy that he had allowed her to take the lead. Having her follow him had kept her in a subordinate position, that, along with his few mentions of rank, his efforts at pointing out his greater expertise, all of that had been in an effort to keep her in a lower ranking mindset, and more responsive to his words and actions, but now, she had just reversed one point.

Well, there was nothing he could do about it now, he could only continue the conversation and hope for the best.

"But continuing on, you were sent to uninhabited world 354 to hunt down an Irlian Spy. Agent Seven, real name unknown, was convicted in proxy of nineteen counts of espionage, he was sentenced to death and a warrant was put out for his arrest. He was supposedly spotted looking for a transport to uninhabited world 354, you being the nearest agent, returning from another mission, were dispatched by yourself in advance to the world. The plan was for you to lay in wait for Agent Seven, and then ambush him. The plan worked well, you successfully shot down his transport, bringing the entire mission to a close in seconds."

They were now off the main street and were instead on a mostly deserted road, small business and offices lined the sides, their employes had long since gone home and the buildings closed up for the night. Whereas before there were still hundreds of people out, now there were only one or two here and there.

"And lastly, while coming back from uninhabited world 354, your transport stumbled upon the Death Lance, the personal ship of Enfelaed, one of the top underground assassins. Knowing he had a warrant out, you ordered your small transports to give chase. In a move that even I consider reckless, you ordered your ship to ram into the side, the Death Lance, obviously not expecting that from a small TSAB transport, was caught of guard and suffered extreme damage. From the hull breech, you entered the ship and went after Enfelaed, unfortunately, he was either not on-board, or managed to escape, so instead you attempted to commandeer the ship, taking over the bridge and going after the engine room. Unfortunately, the crew set an auto-destruct sequence and you and the transport crew managed to just barely escape before the Death Lance was destroyed."

For only the second time, she faltered just half a step when he had mentioned how it was reckless. It was so slight, but still there, and then she recovered again and continued down the road.

"The Brass wasn't happy about that one though. They said you were overly reckless, that you should have called for support, despite the fact that the Death Lance outgunned you, was faster, and had impressive stealth abilities. You argued that if you hadn't acted, you would have lost the ship, a point that the Admirals grudgingly conceded to you. However, your actions were reckless regardless, and you were put on temporary probation; you were only saved by the fact that the Death Lance was destroyed, and you were just coming back from dealing with Agent Seven, which also helped you."

The girl stopped for a second, before turning and walking into the street, a move that was technically illegal, but since the road was now completely deserted, he figured it would be OK and followed behind her.

He had considered mentioning the illegality of the move, to perhaps throw her off even more, but he instead let it go for the moment. She had just given him her second sign that something was amiss, and he wanted time to both ponder the implications, and to see if she would give him anything more.

Her faltering when he mentioned this one was obviously due to the fact that she considered it a failure. She had caused the same collateral damage as she had on the Yishi Station, but now, had failed to bring in the main objective, the assassin Enfelaed had managed to escape. At best she grabbed a partial victory with the destruction of the Death Lance. But that clearly wasn't enough to satisfy her, nor was it enough to satisfy her superiors.

It was obvious that she considered this a failure, and that it had caused her to momentarily stop. This could mean any number of things, or nothing at all. As much as it bothered him, he just didn't have enough information to draw any conclusions on that at the moment. But, knowing that she faltered when he mentioned her failure, allowed him to go back and revise his assessment when he mentioned the Yishi Station. Since she hadn't reacted when he mentioned that, the was able to conclude that she didn't consider that a failure, meaning that she considered the collateral damage acceptable since she had accomplished her main objective.

It wasn't exactly what he wanted, but it would have to do, plus, it reinforced his current opinion of her.

"I must say, all of those missions were fascinating. It's a shame that they are classified now, I am sure a lot of people would benefit from seeing those recordings."

They reached the other side of the road and then turned, heading the same direction they had originally been going. At some point the large offices had given way to smaller ones, and then to small shops and stores.

"Your technique, although it could still use improvement, was highly skilled. In fact, later on, I would like to go over somethings that I noticed. But that will be later, after this is all over."

Again they stopped, this time at an entrance way to a dimly lit alley. The small passage wound behind the buildings, piles of trash and a dumpster partially blocked the way. At the end he could see street lights, but the alley itself was dark and secluded.

"Is this your short cut? Hardly seems like the place that young lady such as your self should be seen around."

As an answer, she began walking down the alley, and after another moment's hesitation, he followed her.

"Definitely seems like the place that a young lady such as your self should avoid."

That was completely unaltered truth. The alley was secluded enough that few would ever wander into it by accident, and those who did would quickly turn around, it was dirty and there was a foul smell about.

"I hope you don't have some friends out there laying in wait to ambush me?"

He said it with the air of a joke, but the underlying sentiment was still there, why were they in this alley? It clearly wasn't because it was a shortcut. And despite his joking tone, an attack was one of the possible outcomes he was expecting, it would have been the more disappointing and boring one, but still, she might have panicked when she found out how much he knew, and if she were the type to loose herself in the moment and act rashly, then she might attempt to silence him. She could attempt to beat him down and enforce his silence, or she could go for the kill and blame it on the missing mechanized units. Both options would fit with that particular scenario.

The other likely option, was that she was going to try and talk it out with him, to negotiate better terms. This was the option that he was hoping for, besides lacking the complication that would be a fight between the two of them, this was the one that would lead to still more questions.

However, instead of saying anything, she abruptly spun around, stopping face to face with him, almost catching him off guard. He sensed no hostility, and no magic, so he avoided any overreactions and just held his position in front of her.

She locked eyes, her shinning cerulean into his artificial blue, and held that. It was a battle of wills, and exactly his area of expertise. His defenses were perfect, his ability to see through the opponent was also excellent, a byproduct of living his entire life built on thousands of lies. He could shift with any advance that his opponent could make, fabricate any fact or detail needed, and he would never loose his cool. And his own attempts at breaking through someones mask were just as good, he could remember all details, easily capturing an amateur in a circle of lies, he could read even the most dedicated liars without even trying, even Vier, who's face stayed in a fluid state, couldn't lie to him.

He was perfect at these types of things.

And yet, he was pretty confident he was loosing.

Not that the young mage in front of him was actually beating him, just that he was getting nothing from her. Her mask, if she was even wearing one, was perfect, so perfect, that he couldn't even tell if what he was seeing was a facade or the real thing. There were no edge, no brittle parts, no cracks, no holes, nothing. She was empty of emotion, and without that, he couldn't get a read. An attempt to unsettle her might give him an opening, but it would also give her a chance too, instead, he maintained the current status quo and waited her out.

A full minute passed, and then another, neither backed down or said a word, and now the Admiral was convinced that he was loosing. It hit him all of a sudden, she was holding the initiative, he was forced to react to her. She was keeping him at bay with the threat that any action on his part would leave an opening, and for her to be able to corner him like this, he knew it would be true, a wrong move on his part would end in his defeat. What he needed to do was read her enough to be able to find a move that neither benefits him or her, just to regain momentum, but he was still unable to read her, and thus he couldn't find the needed safe move.

Four minutes later, she abruptly spun back away from him, effectively ending their staring contest. He wanted to think that she had crumbled under the pressure, but he was positive that she had only ended it when she had gotten what she had wanted out of it.

"Admiral Markly-San, we should get going."

And then she continued on, slowly making her way through the alleyway and towards the lights that indicated the main road. He waited a second before walking a little faster, catching up to her and regaining his position at her side.

They made their way through the alley in silence, left it in silence, and turned right onto the busier sidewalk in silence. It wasn't until they got to the next red light that she spoke again, finally breaking the silence.

"Perhaps you could tell me what you observed in in my records that was lacking?"

Nanoha Takamachi didn't defy classification, he just had yet to figure her out. Whatever she was however, was fascinating.

And she more than lived up to her nickname.

"Well lets see, you have many of the typical problems that a Mage native to a non-Magical world has, first there is..."


End file.
